Temper Tantrums
by attu
Summary: Sam and Tucker deserve best friend awards, Dora is a dragon mom, and absolutely everything is the Box Ghost's fault. What else was new? Or: Danny gets stuck with a dragon amulet. Question is, can he control it or will it control him? Written for Day 23 of Phanniemay '16: Dragons.
1. The Fancy Box

**Temper Tantrums**

 _Written for Phanniemay '16, Day 23: Dragons_

 _(inspired by lunagalemaster)_

* * *

"You did try the Fenton Laser, right?" Tucker asked Danny for what must have been the third time that day.

"I did! And I've tried every other possible piece of Fenton tech I could possibly think of. Twice," Danny replied heatedly.

"What about the-"

"What did I just tell you, Tuck?" Danny stopped in front of Tucker, whirling around to face the technogeek and their goth friend, Sam.

"Sorry, dude, I just wanted to make sure you-" Tucker attempted, but Danny interrupted, face turning red and eyes flashing green.

What a study in contrasts, Sam thought. She was currently enrolled in an art class for her elective for the semester and had found it creeping into everyday life.

"Did you try this? Did you try that?" Danny mimicked. "I can't believe you keep asking me the same shit over and over again, and I can't even keep my emotions straight with this damn temper, and why can't you just let it fucking GO!" The last words came out as more of a roar as horns sprouted from behind Danny's ears and his skin darkened, hardening and separating into sleek black scales. He rapidly grew in size, soon dwarfing his human best friends.

Sam and Tucker followed Danny's growth until they had to crane their necks to see his face. Danny roared, and a blast of icy air whistled passed their faces. They stared up at the dragon that had been their best friend for a moment as the dragon extended a huge pair of green, leathery wings and stared back, tail whipping back and forth.

"Fuck," Sam said under her breath. She'd had a cat and knew all too well what came once that tail stopped.

Tucker looked at Sam. "Run?"

Sam nodded. "Run!"

* * *

It was hard to believe this had all started two days ago. Last Friday had been a day like any other. School out for the weekend, Danny's ghost sense went off, and off the trio went to hunt down the ghost. The ghost in question had been, to Danny's delight, the Box Ghost. He'd been creeping around the surprisingly large back room of an old antique store, where boxes of valuables were piled high and deep. It was just the sort of place that the Box Ghost liked to try to claim as his new "lair."

This was the fifth time this month that they'd caught the Box Ghost in a similar place in Amity Park. Sam theorized that Skulker was giving him a hard time in the Ghost Zone again, so the blue-skinned ghost kept trying to overture into the human realm.

"I almost feel sorry for the guy," she had said to Tucker as Danny attempted to catch the Box Ghost with the Fenton Thermos. "Hunted in his own home, and here's the only place left."

"Doesn't mean we don't have to keep him from terrorizing the locals," Danny replied as he flew by.

"True," Sam admitted. "Should we be helping him?"

"Nah, he needs the practice. It took him ten whole minutes to catch the Box Ghost last time. That's just shameful." Tucker said.

"I can hear you, ya know," Danny called, dodging a few carelessly aimed boxes.

"I know!"

Danny flipped Tucker off with one hand, the other tossing an ectoblast the Box Ghost's way.

"Anyways, did you see the way the owners were hiding behind the register? Guess that's a good thing, since they were too preoccupied to see us," Tucker said to Sam. "I haven't seen anyone in this town so scared of a ghost since we first started doing this thing a couple years ago. They must be new."

Something gleaming in the Box Ghost's hands caught Sam's eye as the Box Ghost flew overhead. The Box Ghost was tossing cardboard boxes at Danny left and right, but he seemed to be holding a smaller box closer to his chest. Please let this not be a repeat of the Pandora's Box episode, she thought. The box did look fairly similar - it was a small wooden chest, gilded around the edges.

Danny tossed another ectoblast at the Box Ghost, catching him on his overalled rear. The Box Ghost stopped and turned around, spouting in indignation, "You cannot stop me, THE BOX GHOST, for I have the power of.." He paused dramatically, then continued, raising the chest, "THIS FANCY BOX!"

Danny looked from the Box Ghost to the chest he was holding, then burst out in a fit of giggles, rolling on his back in the air. "Sure, Boxy. Come at me with the fancy box."

"I am not Boxy! I AM THE BOX GHOST!" The Box Ghost flew at Danny, chest held high. The ghost opened the chest with a flourish, revealing a beautiful gold necklace, set in the middle with a large green gemstone. He stopped mid charge, looking at the contents of the chest. He picked up the necklace, squinting at it suspiciously. "I, THE BOX GHOST, have no need for this," he declared, tossing the necklace away without a thought. "I only require.. THIS FANCY BOX!"

Whatever Sam wanted to call it, be it the strange sort of luck the Box Ghost tended to possess or some sort of cosmic joke - perhaps both - the necklace flew through the air and landed neatly around Danny's neck. The halfa in question had finished giggling and had started fiddling with the Thermos, head bowed, attempting to get the settings such that he could fire it faster in shorter bursts (or so he said later). Thus, he hadn't been paying much attention to the Box Ghost's antics at all. The sudden weight around his neck made him jump to attention and he quickly raised the Thermos, jabbing the button and catching the Box Ghost off guard. The Box Ghost disappeared in a beam of bright, blue light with a sound that sounded suspiciously like "Fear me!"

Danny tossed the Thermos over to Sam, who caught it deftly out of the air. He didn't throw it to Tucker anymore; the technogeek had dropped the Thermos a few too many times, letting the ghost out minutes after they'd caught it. One of these days, Tucker thought, I'll fix that design flaw. Capture devices really shouldn't release upon sudden impact.

As he drifted down to touch down next to Sam and Tucker, Danny slid his gloved hands underneath the necklace in order to lift it over his head. Strangely, his hands seemed to pass through the necklace as soon as he tried to grip it.

"Intangibility on the fritz after that tough fight, Danny?" Tucker joked. "The Box Ghost sure is one fearsome foe."

Danny shot a green-eyed glare over at Tucker. "Haha, very funny. And no, I just can't seem to take it off. It keeps going intangible on its own or something." He tried to grab the necklace again to prove his point. As it had before, his fingers slipped right through.

"Mind if I give it a try? Maybe it's a ghost thing," Sam offered, stepping forward. Danny tilted his head away to give her a better view of the gold chain. She took the chain in her fingers, noting how cool the metal was. That was probably due to Danny, however; since he'd started working on his cryokinesis, everything around him was cold in ghost form. She tightened her fingers around the chain and tried to lift it. Just as with Danny, the chain simply passed through her grasp.

"Strange," she said, taking her hands away from the chain and lifting the pendant part of the necklace. She almost dropped it; the emerald was so cold she was surprised her fingers didn't stick to it. After her initial surprise, she tapped on the emerald with her finger, tilting it this way and that in the light. The color was… interesting. She looked from the stone up into Danny's anxious eyes. "Huh," she said. The stone was the exact same color as Danny's eyes.

"Huh, what?" Danny asked.

"Well, it's a real stone," she said, weighing it in her hand. "Forty to fifty carats, easy. Good quality emerald, too: natural triple-A if not heirloom grade. As for the chain, it's probably eighteen carat based on that yellow color and how heavy it…" She trailed off, noticing the silence from her counterparts. She looked up to see them both staring at her. "..is. What?"

"Sam, how do you even know all of this?" Tucker asked, astounded.

"You really think with my upbringing that my dad would let me go without being able to identify alternate sources of wealth? I may not go along with my parents' way of life but that doesn't mean knowing gems from cut glass isn't a useful skill," Sam replied, a wry grin on her face.

The boys blinked in unison. "Wow," Danny said. "So, uh, any ideas on how to get this thing off of me? I don't want to be stuck with some cursed ghost necklace."

"Maybe that's the curse," Tucker laughed. "You're stuck with it... forever!" He threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

"Can you hide it, at least?" Sam asked. "You probably don't want to explain to your parents why you have a ghost necklace stuck around your neck."

Danny looked down at the necklace, eyebrows furrowing briefly in concentration. The necklace faded from view. "I think I can keep this up without too much energy, but I feel like I'm going to forget to keep this invisible at some point," he said.

"Good thing tomorrow's Saturday, right?" Tucker said. "No worries about hiding it at school. I'll come over and we can tinker around in the lab. We'll get this thing off."

Danny looked skeptical, but he agreed. They left the antique store, coming up with a reason why they didn't come home right after school before they split off to their respective homes.

* * *

The next afternoon, Sam and Tucker arrived at Danny's doorstep. Jazz answered the door and ushered them into the house. She looked a little strained, but before either of the other two could ask why, she asked, "Did anything happen at school yesterday? Or anything... _after_ school?"

Noticing that Sam and Tucker were subtly looking around the house, she quickly added, "Don't worry about talking about ghost things. Mom and Dad are at a technology conference in Chicago for the weekend."

Sam and Tucker visibly relaxed. "Nothing too crazy," Tucker said. "We had a run-in with the Box Ghost, and then there was a thing with a necklace, but nothing too weird aside from that."

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked.

"I mean, it's probably nothing, but Danny's been a little.. Different," Jazz said.

"Different?" Sam said.

"Before I try to explain anything, minor increases in aggression are perfectly normal for teenage boys and-" Jazz stopped and sighed. "Just go downstairs and talk to him. Maybe you'll do better than me."

Something was eating at Jazz, Sam could tell. Danny's older sister was always the first to try to diagnose anything that could possibly be defined psychologically, and not knowing what was up with Danny must have bothered her.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine," Sam said. "He's probably just frustrated about something that happened yesterday."

Jazz looked like she wanted to ask, but closed her eyes, shook her head, and stepped aside to allow them to go downstairs to the lab.

"Hey guys," Danny greeted as the other two reached the bottom of the basement stairs.

"'Sup," Tucker answered.

"How are you feeling?" Sam liked to cut straight to the point.

"Yeah, Jazz said- ooph!" Tucker was cut off by Sam's elbow making direct and abrupt contact with his ribcage.

"What about Jazz?" Danny asked, a little darkly.

"Nothing, she just told us you were down here," Sam recovered, shooting Tucker a look.

"Oh, alright. She's been asking me all sorts of weird questions since I got home yesterday. She's really been getting on my nerves, but I guess that's pretty normal for her. She gets wayyy too high and mighty about her so-called "responsibilities" every time Mom and Dad are out for the weekend," Danny said. "When is she finally going to realize I can more than take care of myself?"

"Maybe when you start doing your own laundry," Sam joked, but Danny only grunted, an irritated look on his face, in response.

"I guess that necklace is really getting on his nerves?" Tucker quietly asked Sam when Danny walked over to the far side of the lab, searching for another piece of Fenton tech.

"Maybe. I'd say I'd be annoyed if I had to concentrate on something really small all day, but this is a little weird for Danny," Sam answered in kind.

"What was that?" Danny asked, coming back over to their side of the lab bearing a few silver and green devices. Surprisingly for a man who wore a orange day-glo jumpsuit all day, Jack Fenton seemed very fond of the silver and green color scheme.

"We were just trying to figure out how best to try to get this thing off," Tucker lied. "I was thinking the Fenton Peeler initially, but I don't know how we'd be able to focus that so we didn't, uhh.."

"Peel me?" Danny finished.

"...Yeahhh," Tucker said. "So that's probably not the best idea."

"Probably not," Danny said. "I'd really like to avoid dismemberment if at all possible."

"Hmm," Tucker mused. "What about…"

They continued on like this for a few hours, bringing up and ruling out several pieces of Fenton tech based on functionality and overall risk to Danny's person. Most of the Fenton's inventions were focused around two basic functions: capture and destruction.

"What about the… Nevermind, I'm out of ideas," Tucker concluded.

"There actually are some other options," Danny said, looking uncomfortable and more than a little angry.

"I thought we went through all of the equipment. There's more?"

"My parents have some tech that they don't think I know about," Danny said. "It's really fucking horrible stuff, though."

"What could be so bad?" Sam asked.

"They're the tools they use to torture - excuse me, _dissect_ \- ghosts. They haven't been able to get their hands on that many ghosts and the few they do I usually manage to dump back into the ghost zone first. But there's a Fenton Scalpel, Fenton Forceps, a Fenton.. All sorts of surgical equipment. It makes me sick and it pisses me the fuck off that they won't accept ghosts as living in their own damn right. They're intelligent! They make decisions! But noooo, ghosts are 'ectoplasmic entities influenced by post-human conscious, not capable of rational or intelligent thought,'" he mimicked his mother eerily well.

"Why haven't you talked to us about this? It's obvious that this bothers you a lot. You can always talk to us about this stuff, man," Tucker said, stepping forward to place a calming hand on Danny's shoulder.

Danny slapped the hand away. "But you guys wouldn't understand. Really, would you?" He answered Sam's protest preemptively. "You don't know how it feels to be hunted. You don't know what it feels like to be a ghost. What it _is_ to be a ghost. It's impossible for anyone who's still human to understand."

"Danny, you're still human, remember?" Sam said. "You're only half a ghost."

"Am I? Am I really?" Danny challenged, eyes glinting dangerously green. "We have _no idea_ what really went on with the accident. There's a good chance I just died and have been possessing my corpse entire time!"

"Danny, where did you even come up with this idea? Did Vlad try to get inside your head again? You know most of what he says is bullshit, and anything about you would be true for him, too," Tucker said. Danny's last altercation with Vlad had been a mere week ago, and he knew how Danny tended to dwell on things.

"No, no, this is just shit I've been thinking about since last night. I've just been so fucking angry and sick with myself for being careless enough to get this stupid-ass necklace stuck around my neck, all thanks to the God-damn _Box Ghost_ , and Jazz is driving me crazy and we've been working on this for hours with _nothing_ to show for it, and really I am just so damn tired," Danny trailed off, seeming to run out of steam. He sighed. "Whatever. Sorry for laying that all on you, guys. My head's been kinda messed up since yesterday."

"It's fine, man, really. It's been stressful with all this ghost-hunting and school on top of it. For sure." Tucker said.

"Yeah, I guess…" Danny said.

Sam didn't know how to break the strangely tense silence that followed, so she continued searching through a large box of tech that Danny and Tucker had pulled down off of a stack of other boxes. Only one device was familiar, so she hauled it out from bits and pieces of failed inventions, untangling wires as she went.

"What about this one?" She asked, laughing and holding it up for the boys to see.

"The Fenton Ghost Weasel? You want to _suck_ this thing off my neck?" Danny asked, incredulous.

"Can't hurt, can it? This thing can't really hurt you," Sam said.

Tucker started cackling. The other two looked at him quizzically. The technogeek explained, in between gasps, "It's just that.. not that that'll hurt you or anything, but you.. You know, holding that up to your neck and stuff, and it _sucks_ , and, and…" He burst out into another fit of giggles.

"Spit it the fuck out, Tuck," Danny said.

"Ghost hickey!" Tucker cried, laughing so hard he fell backwards out of his chair. He rolled back and forth, clutching his stomach.

" _Pfffft_." Sam couldn't help it. As tense as it had gotten in the basement, Tucker's horrible sense of humor had struck her funny bone in exactly the right way. She covered her mouth with one hand to hide her own chuckling, watching Tucker's antics with an amused look in her eye.

Danny, it seemed, didn't find this so amusing. Not amusing at all. A ominously low rumble reached Sam's ears. She turned to look at Danny and the look he was shooting Tucker killed her amusement in a heartbeat. Danny was _seething_. His eyes had gone ghostly green, which was as much as they usually got for a warning that Danny was about to lose his temper. Sam couldn't quite tell at the angle she was standing, but she could swear his pupils were _slitted_. That had never been on Danny's own unique list of traits, so Sam tried to step in.

"Danny-" She was cut off.

"You think this is funny, Tuck? I'm possibly stuck with this fucking necklace for the rest of my life and you're over there making raunchy jokes?" Danny hissed.

Tucker sat up. "Dude, chill. It's not even been twenty four hours. We've dealt with stuff worst than this. Why are you getting so worked up about it?"

"Chill? _Chill_? You're telling me to fucking CHILL?" The last word came out as a roar and Danny transformed.

This transformation had none of the elegance of Danny's transition to Amity Park's resident superhero. There were no white rings, just cracks of bone and a stretching sound that Sam realized was Danny's skin. Danny doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size as his skin turned hard, dark, and scaly and spikes burst out of the skin on his back. Fingernails turned into claws half a foot long and a tail snaked its way out of his spine. Danny drew in a breath and roared once more, sounding less like their friend and more like a creature out of the Jurassic Park movies they'd marathoned last week. Leathery wings flapped at the air as he reared up over Tucker. Tucker tried backing away on his hands and legs, but he couldn't make it very far, positioned as he was belly-up. Sam, still on her feet, was much quicker and side-tackled Tucker to get him out of the way as Danny's front paws (?) hit the ground with a thud that shook the entire lab.

" _Alert. Alert. Ghost intrusion detected. Locking down laboratory in accordance with security code MJ04205_ ," sounded a mechanical voice from speakers overhead. Metal doors slid into place over the stairs and emergency lights flashed all around the room.

Sam and Tucker both looked around the room for alternative exits only to turn up with nothing. Apparently Jack and Maddie didn't want anything getting out of the lab in case of accidental ghost escape.

Danny turned a pair of extremely draconian eyes their way. Tucker gulped. "Any ideas?" He asked.

"Umm. Don't get roasted?" Sam answered.

"Roasted?" Tucker asked in a panic, running one way around the room.

"Dragons breathe fire, right?" Sam said, running the other way around the room. Hopefully if they split up Danny would have trouble figuring out who to go for.

"Oh fuck. Are you thinking this is another one of those -" Tucker started.

"Dragon amulets? Yep," Sam said, panting. She paused for a moment. The Fenton's security system had activated. Why hadn't it attacked Danny? She looked at Tucker, who seemed to have the same idea.

"Where are the lasers? The ecto-nets?" He said. "Hey, FentonWorks! We could use some help here!"

" _Weapons systems are currently offline for minor upgrades_ ," responded the program, sounding more and more like Jack Fenton. " _Security protocols are set to lock down and contain only until upgrades are complete._ "

"Jeez, thanks for all the help," Sam replied sarcastically.

" _You're very welcome. Please enjoy the fudge- I mean pain._ "

Danny was alternately lunging at one and then the other. It seemed the two target strategy was working for the time being, but they couldn't keep running in circles around the lab for long. Tucker already looked to be out of breath and Sam knew she wasn't far behind. They both ran opposite ways around Danny, avoiding the whipping tail, and met in on the other side of the lab, hiding behind one of the consoles. The dragon paused, looking around the lab.

"Guess his dragon brain isn't nearly as smart as his human brain," Sam gasped. "He'd never fall for this."

"Nah, I think the intelligence is about the same," Tucker sniggered in between pants of his own.

"Don't make him any more mad than he already is!" Sam said.

"What? It's not like he can hear me, much less understand what I just said," Tucker replied. The noises of a large creature walking around the room suddenly stopped.

Sam elbowed him. "Shh!"

Tucker looked skeptical then paled, raising a quivering hand to point behind Sam.

Sam felt the blood drain from her face as she slowly looked over her shoulder. A single furious green eye stared at them from a crack in between two consoles.

"I think he heard me," Tucker whispered.

"Heard you? I think he understood you!" Sam yelled, grabbing Tucker by the shirt and diving to the side.

With another roar and a swipe of a large taloned paw, the consoles they'd been hiding behind were gone. As they dove, they watched as the dragon opened its mouth and froze the spot where they'd been hiding, covering it in a thick crust of ice.

"Oh, ice breath," Tucker commented. "Great."

They resumed their game of dodging the dragon. It was hard for Danny to maneuver, being so large in not as large a space. "How are we going to get him back to normal?" Sam said.

"I'd settle for contained," Tucker replied. "We need to stop him rampaging so we can stop and think for a minute." His eyes lit up. "The Thermos! Where'd we put it?"

"Umm, it's probably still in Danny's backpack! I hope he brought it downstairs," Sam said, eyes searching the room.

"There, on the table! You run interference, I'll get the Thermos." Tucker ran over and unzipped the backpack, turning it upside down and shaking the contents onto the table while Sam zig-zagged around Danny's feet.

"Here, dragon dragon!" She sang in her best 'dog' voice. "Over here, buddy!"

"It's not in here!" Tucker cried. "Shit. Shit shit shit."

Sam's path took her passed the Ghost Portal, where she saw where they were looking for. "Over here, by the Portal! He must have been unloading Boxy." She ran away from the portal, trying to give Tucker the room to get to it.

Tucker ran over and grabbed the Thermos. He uncapped it and aimed it at the dragon, thumbing the button on the side. "Sorry, dude," he said as the Thermos started to whine, then made a beeping noise. He checked the readout on the side. "Full? How the hell does Boxy take up that much room?"

"Any day now, Tucker!" Sam yelled from the other side of the room. Shit. Danny had her cornered. She tried to feint sideways, but Danny's tail swept her feet out from under her, causing her to land hard on her back.

Tucker plugged the Thermos into the small port next to the Portal and keyed in the entry sequence, looking over his shoulder anxiously. "Come on, come on, come on!" He said as the light blinked red. After what seemed like an eternity, the light turned green with a whooshing sound as the Box Ghost was flushed back into the Ghost Zone.

"Tucker?!" Sam shouted, more fear in her voice than Tucker had ever heard.

Tucker whirled around, aiming the Thermos at his best friend once again. "Here goes nothing." He pushed the button and the familiar beam of blue light shot out of the mouth of the Thermos, enveloping the dragon and pulling it into the capture chamber. Tucker breathed out a sigh of relief and capped the Thermos, letting his hand swing down to his side.

He jogged over to Sam, offering a hand to pull her up. "Jeez," she said. "Waited for the last possible second much? I thought I was going to get turned into a popsicle."

"Not my fault Danny's too lazy to empty the Thermos after he's used it," Tucker grumbled.

"Seriously, though. Nice one," Sam said, slinging an arm over Tucker's shoulders. "That was a little too close."

"Don't mention it," Tucker said. "Now let's get our friend on two legs again, shall we?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

Special thanks to lunes for this one for keeping at me to get this done. This is going to be a five-chapter deal, posting one chapter each week or so - it makes up about half of my word-count goal of 50k for this past summer's Camp Nano. Hope y'all enjoy and as always, comments and critiques much appreciated (:

-attu


	2. Lost Bet

" _Ghost presence no longer detected. Deactivate security protocol?_ "

Sam started to answer yes, but Tucker shook his head. "Let's leave it on in case he gets loose again."

Sam shuddered. "Good call. Remain activated, please."

" _Security protocol will remain active._ "

They managed to rig up one of the larger containment units on one side of the lab.

"Cross your fingers," Tucker said, uncapping the Thermos and plugging it into the unit's entry port. A quiet whoosh and there was a very large, very angry dragon hurtling itself against the walls of the chamber.

Sam whistled. "Man, I've gotta say that is one majestic creature."

"Did you just call Danny majestic?"

Sam blushed. "Not Danny, the dragon. I'm- I'm sure most people look like this after they put on a cursed ghost dragon amulet," she stammered.

Tucker gave her a calculating look, then shrugged. "Sure, sure," he said, skeptically.

Sam punched him in the upper arm. "Ow, ow, ow! What's that for?" Tucker squeaked, rubbing his arm where she'd hit him.

"Don't you _dare_ tell him I-"

"Don't tell him you have a crush on him? Definitely haven't been keeping that secret for months," Tucker replied slyly. The look on Sam's face was definitely worth the second punch to the arm. Well, mostly worth it. Sam was stronger than she looked, and those punches smarted.

"Anyways, how are we gonna get him, ya know, human again?" Sam said, staring resolutely into the containment unit. "We can't keep him in here forever, you know. Cages-"

"Are inhumane, I know, and all that jazz," Tucker interrupted. "We've gotta figure out how to calm him down. That's how we got Paulina and you to turn back, right?"

"Right," Sam affirmed. "Though, when Paulina was a dragon in the mall I don't think she turned back until Danny had kicked her ass."

"What do you remember about being a dragon? Anything that might help?"

"It's pretty fuzzy," Sam said. "I just remember being really, really angry. More angry than I'd been in my entire life. And then I was lying on the ground, totally fine again. Danny got the amulet off and everything went back to normal."

"Well, we've established that we can't get the necklace off," Tucker mused. "So that leaves an ass-kicking or figuring out how to get him happy again."

"As much as I'd like to kick Danny's ass sometimes, I have no idea how to do that right now," Sam said. "Seeing how he lost his temper because you were joking around-"

"Hey!"

"Well, he did. Anyways, I'm not sure how to fix that, you know? There's no ball to get him to that'll make him turn back into a princess again."

Tucker giggled again. Sam rolled her eyes. "Still? Laughing at the ghost dragon?"

Tucker wiped a tear from his eye. "I'm sorry. I'll save teasing him about that until this is all over."

"Now, what can we use here to give him a hard time…" Sam mused, scanning the lab once again.

"We could always get Val to come kick his ass," Tucker offered.

"You really want to try to explain this to her? 'Val, help, Phantom turned into a giant dragon like the menace he is, please get him back to normal!' You know she'll go straight for the throat."

"I'm not so sure she would. She has mellowed. Really! She only called him 'dead pile of shit' three times in their last fight," Tucker said, but Sam still looked skeptical. "Well, if you don't wanna risk it, we won't do it. What else, then?"

"I feel like there's something here that can definitely help us. Something we've been staring at this entire time. But I just can't figure out what it is," Sam said, scratching her head.

Tucker looked over the lab again and saw exactly what she'd been talking about. Staring at it the whole time. Right. "Hey Sam," he said, pointing above her head.

"Not now, Tucker," she replied, still looking straight ahead. "If this is another of those made you look things, I'll kill you."

"It's not, honest. Just please look this way."

Sam turned and looked. "Oh," she said. "How the fuck did we miss that?"

Ten minutes later, they thought they had it all ready to go. Most of the Fenton's inventions were fairly easy to operate; Jack Fenton had been called many things, but overcomplicated was never one of them. All they had to do was point the thing and press the big red button.

"Ready?" Tucker called from behind the controls of the Ecto-Stoppo-Power-Ifier.

"Just about. A little more to the left," Sam directed from next to the containment unit. Tucker moved the cannon as directed. She remembered something, and stopped motioning with her hands. "Wait, this won't work. Didn't this thing keep Danny from turning back last time he got zapped with this? We don't want him stuck like this until wears off."

"Nah, Mr. Fenton's been doing some work on it. Once he and Mrs. Fenton realized that it didn't really do anything to the ghost but keep it from changing in any way and took way too long for the powering down effect to take hold, they decided to alter it a little. Now it's more of a power-down. Danny may have left one of Vlad's zappy turn-back-into-a-human thingies - Plasmius Maximus! - on the bench next to their tools for Mr. Fenton to pick apart and his dad may have decided to integrate it with the cannon. We thought it might be useful if he ever gets the cannon a bit more portable."

"Huh. Nice thinking," Sam said. "Alright, then let's hope this is one of Jack Fenton's brilliant inventions instead of one of Jack Fenton's brilliant duds. Just move it a little more, that's it, good. Right on target." She quickly moved over to stand behind a protective shield of glass. They didn't think that the cannon would do anything to humans, but they didn't want to find out. "Whenever you're ready, Tuck."

Tucker nodded, adjusting his beret with one hand. "Three, two, one, bombs away," he whispered, activating the cannon. The machine emitted a high-pitched whine as it charged up, emitting crackles of white-hot lightning. After an agonizing few seconds, the whining abruptly cut out milliseconds before it fired a ray of blue-white light that enveloped the containment unit. Animalistic roars echoed from within the cage.

"This isn't hurting him, is it?" Tucker looked at Sam, eyes wide.

"I didn't think it did last time! He never mentioned it, at least," she said, worried.

The cannon ceased firing. The beam had been so bright that it took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the normal lighting of the laboratory. Anxious, they ran up to the side of the containment unit, eager to see whether their experiment had worked. It was hard to see through the glass the cage at first - it seemed Danny's ice breath had caused the exterior to mist over, droplets of water collecting into larger drops and rolling down the sides of the cage.

Sam wiped away a swath of water with one hand, leaning forward to peer through the glass. Razor-sharp claws tore through the air inches from her nose, leaving deep claw marks in the glass. She started backwards; the squealing of the glass would have been enough to startle her at that point, let alone the sudden burst of adrenaline caused by what her brain had perceived to be a near-death experience.

"Fuck," she swore, shaking. "Maybe we will have to call in Valerie, after all."

"No, no," Tucker said, leaning passed her to wipe some more of the condensation away. "Look at him. He's definitely smaller, right?"

Sam steeled herself and looked back through the glass. Tucker was right, the dragon was shrinking before their eyes. Danny's eyes rolled up in his head and he listed to the side, collapsing on the floor. "Looks like that one swipe was all he had," Tucker said. "Leave it to him to be difficult about it."

Sam allowed a small grin to cross her face. As they watched, Danny's scales lightened and smoothed back into skin while horns receded into his skull. His tail and wings seemed to collapse back into his body, which made the spectating humans wince. Tucker was about to comment, but shook his head to himself instead. Theories on ghosts and matter could wait another day.

Soon, the dragon was back to being their friend again. Danny lay motionless on floor. "Should we… go in and get him?" Tucker asked hesitantly.

"I guess so," Sam replied. "Hopefully this whole transformation thing has tired him out. It certainly did when I wore a necklace like that."

"Just to be safe, though," Tucker trailed off, hoisting the Thermos.

"Just to be safe," Sam repeated, grabbing the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick.

Tucker keyed in the sequence to open the cage and they walked in, approaching Danny's face-down form. Sam reached out one steel-toed boot and prodded Danny's shoulder gently. "Danny?" She called quietly. "You okay?" Danny didn't move.

"Time to wake up, buddy," Tucker said.

Sam poked Danny with the Anti-Creep Stick. "I really don't want to carry him all the way up to his room from here," she said to Tucker. "I don't think he's gonna wake up anytime soon."

"Maybe I can try something," Tucker said, a calculating look in his eye. He leaned down and whispered something into Danny's ear. Whatever he said, it worked. Danny suddenly curled in on himself, swearing.

"How're ya feelin'?" Tucker asked, sounding very pleased with himself. His grin grew wider as this elicited more swearing from the other boy. "That bad, huh?"

"Everything hurts," Danny moaned, now huddled up in the fetal position with his arms around his head. "Why does everything hurt?"

"Don't be so dramatic," Sam said, resting the Anti-Creep Stick on one shoulder. "Turning into a dragon will do that to you."

"Turning into a _what_?!" Danny sat up with a start then hunched over, hissing at the pain his sudden movement had caused.

"The necklace is a little more cursed than we'd thought," Tucker explained. "Remember Dora? Aragorn?"

"This is a dragon amulet? Shiiiiiit," Danny said.

"Pretty much. Can you stand?" Sam asked, offering a hand. Danny took it and she hoisted him to his feet. Danny staggered slightly, then regained his balance.

"Jesus, my head's on fire. Scratch that, everything is on fire," Danny complained, one hand clutching his head.

"More like, on _ice_ ," Tucker cackled. Sam's glare silenced him quickly.

"What about ice?" Danny mumbled.

"Nothing," Sam said quickly. "We'll talk more about this later. How about we get you up to your room? Jazz is probably wondering why the lab is sealed and all."

"Yeah, room sounds... good... tired," Danny trailed off, eyes rolling back in his head. Sam and Tucker were standing close enough to catch him, each slinging an arm over their shoulder.

"Guess we are carrying him all the way up to his room, after all," Tucker said.

"Guess so," Sam muttered.

A few hours later, Danny woke up and the other two teens explained to him what had happened.

"I'm really sorry you guys had to deal with that- with me," Danny said earnestly. "Thanks for getting me under control."

"To be fair, we had slightly more self-interest in getting you back to normal," Sam said. "Not being frozen or clawed to death, for one."

"Or eaten!" Tucker added.

Danny blanched. "Why are you guys are taking this so calmly? I tried to eat you?!"

"You had no control over it, dude. We get it," Tucker said.

"Seriously, though. If you guys wanted to leave, that's okay. I'll figure this out somehow," Danny said, head down.

"Come on, Danny. We've all tried to kill each other at some point. Literally," Sam said.

"How messed up are our lives that we can say that in truth?" Tucker asked the ceiling.

"Really. We're your friends, Danny. We're not skipping out on you just because of another wacky circumstance. Besides, you're so clueless I don't think you'd get that thing off in a thousand years," Sam teased, trying to lighten the mood a little.

It worked: Danny managed a small smile. "Where would I be without you guys?"

"Dead," the other two said in unison.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Anytime," Sam said. "Now, we need to talk about you getting a hold on your temper…"

After some thinking, the other two decided to go home and resume their work the next day. It was getting late. Tucker offered to let Danny sleep over at his house in case Jazz got on Danny's nerves, but Danny said he was so tired he didn't think he could get angry enough at Jazz if he tried. That, along with the pallor of his face, ameliorated Sam and Tucker enough for them to leave. After the other two had left FentonWorks and had started to make their way down the street, Sam turned to Tucker.

"Do you really think he'll be okay? If he goes postal on Jazz-" Sam started.

"It'll be fine. You told Jazz he wasn't feeling well, right?"

"Yeah, but that's no guarantee."

"True. Good thing I routed FentonWorks' security system through my tablet, right?" Tucker smirked, pulling out the mentioned device. "See? I plan ahead sometimes."

"Not bad, Mr. Geek," Sam said with a smile.

"Not too bad yourself, Ms. Goth."

They split off at their usual intersection and made it home. Tucker didn't know about Sam, but he slept surprisingly well. His tablet didn't chime or vibrate once throughout the night.

Cut back to the next morning. The other two had gone over to find Danny in much the same mood that they'd found him the previous morning. Danny had already been up for several hours testing different Fenton tech before they'd even arrived. After an hour or two of working, tempers were even running high among the two who didn't have a cursed dragon rage ghost amulet, leading to Sam and Tucker's second bout with a dragon in as many days.

"Run?"

"Run."

This flight from the dragon didn't last nearly as long as the first one, thankfully. They'd settled into the same strategy as they had yesterday. One distracted while the other got the Thermos. Within minutes, they had the Danny contained and zapped by the cannonthing.

After the mist cleared, they entered the containment unit and helped Danny back to his feet.

"I don't know how many of those I have in me," Tucker panted.

"The pain isn't quite as bad this time, I don't think," Danny wheezed.

"Well, good for you," Sam drawled sarcastically. "Let's get used to this routine, shall we?"

"I'm sorry, guys. I shouldn't've gotten so mad," Danny said.

"Nah, dude, this one's at least a little on me. I got a little too worked up, too," Tucker said.

"I should know better by now, though. This is just like when I had my emotions all messed up during the whole Vortex thing," Danny said, collapsing into a chair. Sam and Tucker were fairly winded as well, so they pulled up chairs and let themselves fall into them, sighing happily.

Danny let his head fall back. "This is it. I'm stuck like this. Forever."

"We should watch _Star Wars_ again. Learn to control your anger, young padawan," Tucker said. "Anger is the path to the Dark Side." He wiggled his fingers spookily.

"You need a little more red for your evil Sith dragon Lord persona," Sam added. "Can't have that green in there. Sith Lords don't really do green."

Danny started making Darth Vader breathing noises that transformed into laughter after a few seconds. Sam and Tucker couldn't help themselves and soon they were clutching their sides, too. They had to stop to catch their breath eventually, but the atmosphere had been lightened considerably.

"Alright," Sam said, wiping a few tears from her eyes. "We need a game plan for this week. We need to keep you from going full lizard on Dash or any of his idiot posse."

"I'd say I've gotten used to it over the years, but this amulet has taken me right back to how I used to feel about getting bullied freshman year. All that fear and stress is probably going to turn right into rage," Danny said, fiddling with the necklace.

"Maybe Jazz can help," Tucker said, straightening. The other two looked at him quizzically. "Seriously. She's good with all that psychology stuff, right? She probably has a few tips on managing anger."

"I really don't want to explain the fact that I could turn into a dragon and eat somebody if I get pissed off to my sister," Danny said.

"I'm sure if you just explained to her that you've been having trouble with anger lately, she'd be glad to help you. You may think she's meddling and at times I agree, but she's always wanted to help you," Sam said.

Danny looked unconvinced. Sam placed a hand on his shoulder. "Shouldn't be so bad, right? We'll leave you to it. Text us if you need us, otherwise we'll see you tomorrow morning."

Danny nodded, swallowing. "Alright. I'll give it a try."

Sam smiled. Sometimes Danny just needed the tiniest bit of a push. "See you tomorrow, dragon boy."

Monday rolled around, much to Danny's anxiety. Just keep the necklace invisible and stay calm, he thought. Invisible necklace, think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Ugh, it's Monday. Did I have anything due for Lancer's class today? Shit shit shit I fucking forgot- He was torn out of his thoughts as the necklace abruptly tightened around the front of his throat and he coughed, gasping for air.

"What's with the new bling, Fenturd? Good weekend with your sugar daddy?" It was Dash. Of course it was. No one else at school paid Danny nearly as much attention as Dash did to his favorite punching bag. He'd grabbed the back of the necklace and tugged, causing the sudden lack of air. Danny cursed internally. He must have been too panicked with the thought of missing homework to keep the necklace invisible amongst all the other distractions that high school provided.

Stupid, Fenton, he thought. Stupid, fucking stupid. Can't even concentrate on one fucking thing for ten fucking minutes. A bone-chilling rage seemed to rise up out of nowhere, out of somewhere deep within him. He clenched his fists, which had started to shake.

Dash was still standing behind Danny, waiting for Danny to attempt to reply. Danny took a breath and looked up, noting the nervous look on Tucker's face. _Eyes,_ Tucker mouthed, widening his own exaggeratedly. Double shit. His eyes must have been green. He turned around, keeping his eyes to the ground, but before he could say a word, Sam stepped in between him and Dash.

"Oh, stuff it, Dash," she said. Tucker made a small choking noise. "Danny lost a bet this weekend and as punishment he has to wear one of my grandma's necklaces for a week."

""Lost a bet, huh?" Dash eyed Danny. "Shoulda expected. Like Fentina here could ever win anything." He picked Danny up by the front of his t-shirt. "Now, I can't have you going back on that bet, right? I'd better see that girly necklace around your neck every day this week. Otherwise, my punishment won't be nearly as kind as your girlfriend's, there."

"She's not my-" Danny started to protest.

"Shut the fuck up, Fentoad." Dash shook Danny a little to underline his point. "You get me?"

Danny opened his mouth to let out a sarcastic remark, but he felt a Sam's hand curl around his shirt behind him. Remember to keep a low profile, the contact seemed to say. Danny felt himself deflate a little. "I get you, Dash. Loud and clear."

"Good," Dash said, dropping Danny. "See you nerds in first period."

Danny rubbed his throat with one hand as Dash strutted away. "One of these days," he heard himself hiss.

"Danny. Bro," Tucker said cautiously, keeping his voice low in the now-crowded hallway. "Calm. The fuck. Down. You're gonna light the whole hallway up green."

"Remember those breathing exercises Jazz taught you yesterday?" Sam added.

Danny nodded and started to breath in slowly through his nose, trying to imagine the air flowing into his belly. He held it for a few seconds, then exhaled through his mouth over the course of another few seconds. He did this exercise twice more, then looked back up at his friends. No green light reflected off their eyes and they looked less concerned, so he must have managed to get his eyes blue again.

"Ready for class?" Sam asked.

"As much as I will be," Danny replied.

First period seemed to be going fairly uneventfully. Lancer had given Danny a tough time about the missing homework, but Sam supposed it was a normal enough thing that Danny didn't have too much trouble keeping his temper down. A few minutes later, she was proved incorrect.

Dash and Kwan were being, well, typical Dash and Kwan. They'd taken seats a few rows behind where Sam sat next to Danny. Dash was trying and failing to whisper, amongst giggles, what had gone on in the halls before class had started.

"And then, and then," Dash fake-whispered to Kwan, "She says it's her _grandma's_ necklace. And Fentonio has to wear it for a _week_! That girly-ass necklace…"

Sam rolled her eyes and ignored them, not thinking much of it. A few seconds later, a wisp of chilly air danced across her skin, eliciting goosebumps all over her arms. That was strange. They were in that in-between part of the spring where it was too warm for heat, but the school board hadn't deemed it hot enough to turn on the air conditioning yet. It'd been a little warm in the school building lately, so her usual tank top was perfect for class.

She looked over at Danny and mentally smacked herself. Cold was rolling off of the boy in waves. He was sitting hunched over at his desk, eyes furiously green and slitted, like a cat's. His fingernails - more like claws now - dug into the desk, quietly gouging thin lines in the false wood. He gritted teeth slightly too sharp to be human and it sounded like he was...growling?

Before she could think of anything better, Sam balled up the grammar worksheet sitting on her desk and tossed it low at Danny's head. It caught him in the jaw and he whipped his head around, snarling at her, low and fierce. "Danny, lock it down," she hissed. He blinked, eyes returning to their usual blue.

"What?" He asked.

"You were about to go postal on a certain pair of idiots," she replied.

He blanched.

"Something to tell the class, Ms. Manson?" Mr. Lancer asked from the front of the classroom.

"Nothing, Mr. Lancer," Sam said, voice brimming with false cheer. "I just dropped my worksheet under Danny's desk and was asking him to get it back for me."

"Ahh. Mr. Fenton?"

Danny started. "Yes, Mr. Lancer?"

"I believe you were about to hand Ms. Manson her worksheet back. It seems to have gotten crumpled as it fell under your desk. Very strange."

"Casper High, what a weird place! The strangest things happen," Sam said, faking a smile.

"Yes, the strangest," Mr. Lancer answered with a look in his eyes that implied any other "fallen" worksheets would be met with detention. Without another word, he went back to speaking on the importance of the semi-colon.

Danny wordlessly handed back Sam's worksheet. She shot him a querying look, but he shook his head, motioning with his hand the trio's usual signal for ' _Later_ '.

Later for Sam would have to mean after school. Tetslaff had gotten it into her head today that she was going to take the female gym classes over to the nearby park for "wilderness training" during the concurrent lunch and gym periods. Danny's next class was with Tucker, then they split up for the last class of the afternoon. Tapping her pencil on her desk, she set in to face the rest of the day nervous as all hell.

"Literally five minutes into the school day and I lose it. I can't fucking believe it," Danny seethed, pacing back and forth in front of a picnic bench in front of the school.

"Dash really does have some sort of sixth sense to tell him when you're prime picking-on material," Tucker said, sitting on the table. He picked at the paint with a fingernail. "It does worry me, though. If you can't manage school this is going to be a lot harder."

"And it ups the timetable," Sam added, walking up to the boys. She caught Danny by one arm as he walked, stopping his pacing and dragging him closer to the table. She put her arms on the table behind her and hoisted herself up to sit beside Tucker. "Assuming you didn't go full lizard while I was in gym, seems like you kept it locked down. Not bad, all things considered."

"All things considered, I almost took Dash's head off," Danny argued. "You don't know how I felt, Sam. I was really going to kill him." He looked sick at the thought.

"Well, if you were going to kill _someone_ , Dash really isn't your worst choice," Tucker said, earning him an elbow to the side from Sam. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"You know what it was for. If you don't, maybe I need to hit you again."

"There's, uh, no need for that!" Tucker put his hands up in surrender.

"Good," Sam said, crossing her legs. "Anyways, I had an idea today."

"Really?" Danny asked eagerly. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle. Ever since this morning, I've felt like Bruce Banner trying not to turn into a huge destructive rage machine at every little annoyance. And at least the Hulk is a hero."

"Dude, I totally would've done what you did in gym, too," Tucker said.

"Wait, what happened in gym?" Sam shot a worried look over at Danny, who looked at the ground and mumbled something under his breath.

"Clawhands here decided it would be a good idea to pop every dodgeball he got his hands on," Tucker said, exasperated.

"I didn't decide to do it! The claws just… came out," Danny said. " _And_ my nerves are too shot to pretend to get hit all the time. Catching them was kinda reflex."

"Not exactly inconspicuous!" Tucker argued.

"Yeah, well next time _you've_ got a dragon rage curse _you_ try letting Dash smash a dodgeball into your face," Danny spat, his eyes beginning to flicker a dangerous shade of green.

"Boys! Calm down for a second," Sam said sternly, hopping off of the picnic table and standing between the other two. "Tucker, you're worrying a hole in that table and Danny, please try to avoid killing all of the grass. It's not a very frost-resistant variety and the school yard's got more than enough of a soil erosion problem without you killing half the plants."

Tucker snatched his hand away from the table. Danny did a double-take at the ground at his feet; a circle of frost had crept from his shoes onto the grass around him, freezing the grass solid up to almost a yard away. He lifted a foot experimentally, breaking the crust of ice. As he slowly set it back down, blades of grass shattered with quiet crunching sounds that were out of place on the sunny September afternoon. The expression on his face was one that Sam in any other circumstance would have been happy to see, but she realized that the anguish he was feeling wasn't due to killing plants. For Danny, the dead grass was just another loss of control.

He looked up at Sam, worry apparent in the slant of his eyebrows and the downturn of his lips. "You had an idea, Sam?" He asked softly.

Sam wasn't sure whether she'd spotted a tremor in the hand Danny ran through his hair, but she decided that enough was enough. "We have to go to the source for this," she said. "This is way too serious for us to handle by ourselves. Dora's the one with the dragon necklace, right? Maybe she can help us with this one."

"Think she'll help us?" Tucker asked.

"She'd better," Danny said, a dark tone in his voice. Tired, cautious Danny was gone and angry Danny had returned. "I gave her her entire fucking kingdom the last time we saw each other, right?"

They got to FentonWorks and went up to Danny's room using their usual homework excuse. Sam and Tucker dumped their backpacks at the foot of Danny's bed and Danny - now Phantom - phased them down into the lab. Thanking whatever ghost gods of luck had kept the Fentons upstairs, they powered up the Specter Speeder and headed into the Ghost Zone.

Tucker sat at the controls, following the map they'd made the last time they traveled to Dora and Aragon's domain. Danny sat at the back, feet up on the seat and arms around his knees. Sam initially sat in the co-pilot's chair but after the first twenty minutes of the trip - Dora's castle was almost as far away from the Ghost Portal as the realm of the Far Frozen - she moved back to sit next to Danny.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, sliding herself back on the bench seat. The seat was cool where her thighs touched the metal.

"Tired," Danny answered honestly. "Frustrated more than anything. I've finally gotten to a point in my crazy life where things are starting to make sense, then this happens."

"It's been too calm for too long. We were probably overdue," Sam said with a small smile. "Since when has your life ever been easy?"

"Seems like never," Danny replied, resting his forehead on the tops of his knees. The gold of the necklace glinted across the back of his neck.

"Then think of this as just another struggle that you're going to triumph over. I think we've said this before, but we've faced worse, right?"

"I know. It's just.. The whole rage thing. I get angry, you know I can really get pissed. But this anger isn't even _mine_. It's only been a few days but every little thing has me questioning whether it's actually me that's mad or just the amulet. It's… they're thoughts that aren't my own, and that brings back bad memories." The last sentence came out as more of a whisper and Sam had to lean in to hear what Danny had said.

She remembered back to the flickers of emotions she'd seen on his face after he'd accidentally frozen the grass. It dawned on her.

"Danny, this isn't like Freakshow. You're not being mind controlled," she said, trying to think of the right words to displace his fears.

"Isn't it?" He asked, raising his head to look at her. His green eyes peered right into her purple ones as if searching for something. "This amulet is twisting my emotions into something I can't control. My emotions color my thoughts and experiences and I can't recognize what is and isn't quite right anymore. But then, what if I really am this terrible of a person? Does this amulet make me want to do things or is it just giving me the excuse to do things that I, deep-down, already want to do?"

"I've always known and _you've_ always known you aren't that kind of person. You've proved it time and time again. Besides, I don't think your subconscious really wants you to turn into a mindless ice-breathing dragon. Subconscious you has always had a few more smarts than that," she said. "And you aren't getting any actual thoughts from the necklace, right? It's not telling you to rob banks or kill Dash or any of those things." Danny shook his head. "Definitely not mind control, then."

He paused for a second, seeming to search for the right words, himself. "It may not be telling me to do things, Sam, but I'm certainly doing things that I don't want to be. If I don't have my free will, what do I even have?"

"You have friends," Tucker said, sliding onto the bench on Danny's other side. " _Autopilot_ ," he mouthed at Sam over Danny's head after she shot a concerned look at the empty pilot's chair. "You have us. You've always had us."

Several minutes later, the autopilot controls on the dashboard sounded with a soft _ping_. They'd arrived.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Aaaaand that's part two! Hope you enjoyed and as always, comments and critiques are very much appreciated (:

-attu


	3. Dora's Tale

Tucker rose from the back bench and settled back into the pilot's seat. Taking the controls, he gently maneuvered the craft to descend into the field in front of the castle. Upon their arrival, crowds upon crowds of peasants came to see the visitors. Even with the queendom now open to the rest of the Ghost Zone, visitors from the outside world were few and far between. As they landed the Speeder and opened the hatch to leave, ghosts immediately closed in around the doorway.

"Hi, everybody. Nice to see you all again. I'd love to stop for a, uh, portrait, but right now we're on some important business. Can you get Dora for us, please?" Tucker asked one peasant after another, trying to get one of them to understand. "Please, we need her. Your queen?"

The crowd pressed in on them once they recognized who they were however, eager for a glimpse of the heroes that had helped their beloved queen defeat her brother, the old king. They tried to push their way through the crowd but were pushed this way and that by the excitable peasants. Danny growled as ghostly hands clung to his arms, legs, and torso. "Let go of me," he snarled, curling one hand into a claw while pupils narrowed into slits..

"Danny, they're just excited to see you. Come on, you've got this. You held it all the way through school, don't lose your temper now. They're just excited. Please." Sam tried to calm him down, trying to hold on

Tucker spotted the tail starting to snake its way out of Danny's spine and grabbed Sam's shoulder. "Sam, get back. Now!" He pulled her away as Danny transformed, wings churning out gusts that blew the peasants several yards back. They backed up until they stood against the Specter Speeder. Claws pulled at the earth as Danny took to the air with a roar.

"How are we going to get him this time?" Tucker asked, panicked.

"I'm not sure that's our problem this time," Sam said, pointing towards the castle. "I'm just working up an apology to Dora."

An answering roar rumbled the ground at their feet as a blue and green dragon flew over the highest tower of the castle. Dora opened her jaws and breathed a huge column of fire at the challenging black dragon. Danny responded with a screech of defiance, meeting Dora's fire with a whistling blast of wind and ice.

The two dragons met in the air, crashing into each other so hard that the resulting shockwave pushed many of the ghosts to their feet and forced Sam and Tucker down to a knee. It was obvious as the dragons clashed that Dora, the larger dragon, had much more experience than Danny, who was smaller. While Danny was fast and scrappy as all hell, getting in little scratches and bites with his teeth, Dora was much more at ease in the air, dodging most of Danny's attacks with room to spare.

"Why do you think she isn't fighting back?" Tucker asked, hoisting himself back up to his feet. "For the most part she's just dodging him and letting him wear her down."

"She's not getting work down," Sam said, eyes wide with realization. "She's letting him wear himself down. She's biding her time until he slips up. I'm betting that'll be soon; she knows a hell of a lot more about dragon combat than Danny does."

Her predictions turned out true. Danny dove low and rolled onto his back in the air, breath launching hundreds of tiny sharp ice crystals at his foe. Dora easily dodged the blast, veering to the side as she started a dive of her own. She hit the smaller dragon with all of her mass, speeding up their descent and driving him into the ground. Sam and Tucker ran as close as they dared. Had the fight been enough to exhaust Danny to the point of turning back?

The dust cleared revealing two human forms, one helping the other to his feet. Dora slung one of Danny's arms over her shoulders like he was a rag doll, dragging him upright. With her free hand, she brushed some of the dirt off of her dress. "It seems we have much to talk about," she said as she approached, eyes glittering. "Let's get this one up to the castle, hmm?"

An hour later, Sam and Tucker were seated in one of the fanciest chairs they'd ever seen, much less sat upon. A few of Dora's aides had taken Danny to one of the castle's many bedrooms. "He'll find us when he wakes," Dora had said. Ghosts little more than wisps of color set plates of food and jugs of liquid on the table in front of them. Tucker had snatched up one of the smaller plates and had started filling it with slabs of whatever meat was on the table.

"Are you sure you want to be eating that?" Sam asked, wrinkling her nose at the smell. "You don't even know what animal those are from."

"Ghost meat, real world meat, doesn't matter to me," Tucker said around the meat as he chewed. "What? I haven't eaten in almost two hours!"

Sam's own stomach rumbled as if in response. "See?" Tucker said, gesturing with his fork. "Your stomach knows I'm right."

"I'm not sure I can eat any of this. Most stuff in the Ghost Zone is alive in some way or another," Sam said, grimacing.

"Plants are technically alive, too. Doesn't stop you from slicing 'em up," Tucker replied, heaping more slices of some sort of roast onto his plate.

"Well-," Sam started a reply when her stomach growled loudly again to let her know that, morals or no morals, it needed something to eat. Now. "Ugh. Fine." She grabbed a plate and spooned what looked like fruit salad onto it. Well, she hoped it was fruit salad. Instead of the usual bright colors of a fruit salad in the human world, the chunks of "fruit" were dark greens and purples, some even gray. She took a fork from the table and speared one, holding it up to her face and looking at it suspiciously. She sniffed it once, then twice. It smelled strangely like a mango mixed with a peach. Surely something that smells this good can't be _that_ bad, she thought. She popped the piece of fruit in her mouth, chewing slowly in case something tasted off.

"Holy shit," she mumbled, still chewing the fruit. The pango or meach or whatever it was tasted amazing, nothing like the food she'd had the last time she was here. When she was held prisoner, all of the food Aragon's aides had brought her had had a strong undercurrent of mildew and mold. This tasted just as fresh as if she'd picked it out of her greenhouse.

"That good or that bad?" Tucker asked, watching her eat the fruit with a faint expression of disgust.

"It's really too bad you don't bother to eat a balanced diet," Sam said. "This is some of the best fruit I've ever tasted!"

"I should hope so," came a soft voice from the doorway. "After I locked my brother away, I did my best to make a few changes to the way this castle was run, including the food. My brother always did have a, well, a bad taste in food." Dora entered the room, gown sweeping behind her.

"It's amazing, Your, umm, Your Majesty," Sam said. She wasn't sure what sort of pleasantries ghost monarchs held to.

"Oh, Samantha, there's no need for that. We're all friends here," Dora said with a smile, taking a seat across the table from the two humans. "Yes, these new fruits have become quite popular among many here. The new gardener I received from Undergrowth as a coronation present is really quite skilled."

Sam choked. "T-these are _Undergrowth's_ plants?"

"Why, yes," Dora replied, eyebrows lowering in concern. "All manner of plants are his domain, after all. The gardeners and botanists he trains are the best in all the Ghost Zone. We are lucky to have one under our employ here."

Sam felt a sour feeling begin to rise from her stomach. "I think I'm going to-" She gagged and Tucker shoved his beret in her direction. She grabbed it and vomited the several chunks of fruit that she'd eaten into the hat.

Dora rose from her chair, startled. "Oh, Samantha, I am so sorry! The gardener assured me that this variety was compatible with our living counterparts."

"It's not the fruit, really," Tucker answered when Sam retched again into his beret. "We had a bit of a run-in with Undergrowth a little while back. Sam's experience was… a little more personal than most."

Sam raised her head from the beret, her face a shade of green more fitting on Danny's face than her own. "Eesh. You owe me a new beret, dude," Tucker said, grimacing. Sam nodded shakily.

"Regardless, I am terribly sorry that my refreshments caused you such pain. I will send for the servants at once to clear this away. Is there anything I can have them retrieve for you in lieu of the fruit?" Dora asked.

"Bread," Tucker answered for Sam. "Any sort of homemade bread. She likes that."

Dora rang a small bell sitting next to her chair while Sam nodded Tucker's way gratefully. "Thank you," she rasped, coughing to clear the acid feeling out of her throat.

"No problem, Couldn't have you puking all over my meat, could I?" Tucker answered, picking up his plate from where he'd dropped it onto a side table. He dug into the meat with no less gusto than before. "This steak is delicious! Where'd you get it?"

"My hunters are fond of the realm of the Far Frozen," Dora said. "Their pelts are quite useful and , if you season it right, the meat is quite tender for such tough creatures."

It was Tucker's turn to choke. Dora laughed, a surprisingly loud sound coming from one they had only known as a quiet princess. "Oh, I would never. Frostbite is one of my closest friends and allies. I assumed it was only fair, considering the state of your friend," she said, eyes bright. "It is merely a young calf from our fields. Rest assured, there is no pelt of the Far Frozen gracing the foot of my bed."

Tucker recovered quickly, managing to swallow the chunk of meat in his throat. "I didn't know you were much of a joker," he said, eyes narrowed.

"Oh, you should have seen me and my brother when we were young. I was quite the prankster, you know. My brother was very easy to fool," she said, a sad tone creeping into her voice. "Yes, we were both very different back then. Back when our father was still king." Her hands clenched together in her lap.

Sam and Tucker didn't know what to say to that, so they were silent into a servant brought in a loaf of bread, still steaming from the baker's oven. The servant cleared a place at the main table and set the bread down, the platter clinking on the glass top of the table as the server respectfully backed out of the room.

Sam sliced herself a thick hunk of the bread, holding it with the tips of her fingers to allow it to cool. Once she deemed it cool enough, she took a bite. The warm crust crunched satisfyingly under her teeth. She quickly polished off the first slice and cut another, setting this one on the plate in her lap. Feeling much better, she said, "You've never mentioned your father before. How long has he…" She trailed off, unsure whether it was polite to ask a ghost about their ages or deceased families.

"Been gone? Oh, quite some time. At least a millenium," Dora said. "It doesn't feel like nearly that long, yet sometimes it seems twice that. My father reigned for centuries, you see. He was.. A complicated man. He was a great ruler and a terrifying one. While there was order in his kingdom, it was an order built on a great deal of fear of the Dragon King There was respect, too; my father was a staunch upholder of the law. But he was a hard man and I think as first-born son, Aragon bore the brunt of my father's teachings. Aragon was always trying his best to be our father when he should have been trying to be his own person, his own king. I believe that lack of awareness led to his descent into how he was when you first encountered him."

"Did Aragon…" Tucker started to ask, then thought better of the question.

"No, my brother did not commit patricide," Dora answered anyway. "That is a bit longer of a story that I think should wait until Daniel wakes."

"Good think I'm here, then," Danny said, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. He looked a little better, but the fight with Dora had clearly taken its toll. His face had taken on a strained appearance and he tapped the fingers of one hand irrhythmically against his forearm.

"You're awake! Come sit," Tucker said, scooting to the side and patting the space on the couch between himself and Sam.

"I think I'd rather stand," Danny said flatly, but Tucker's puppy dog eyes were not to be denied. Danny sighed and crossed the room to fall lightly onto the couch. Sam felt her skin tighten, tiny hairs rising on the side of her arm closest to Danny. He wasn't bothering to keep his usual frosty aura in as close as he usually did. She rubbed her arm with her opposite hand, sliding away from Danny ever so slightly. Danny noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye, however. The confused look on his face quickly turned into one of apology, and the chill disappeared.

"You've recovered quickly. Good. It's time to tell you about the amulet that rests around your neck," Dora began. "I was just telling your companions here about my father. He was king here before my brother, over five hundred years ago.

"Back then, my brother and I were just reaching adulthood. My father was very old, but that is not always so much of a problem for a ghost. For many of us, especially we of the dragon, age comes with power and the experience to use it wisely. My father wasn't what I would call a wise man, but as a king he was a smart one. It was a rather peaceful time in the kingdom, so there was not much for my father's armies to do. There used to be a natural portal not far from here leading directly to a forest in the human realm and some of my father's more rambunctious knights liked to travel through and cause mayhem in the kingdom beyond, chasing cattle until their hearts gave out from the fear and scaring humans who traveled alone through the woods.

"My father allowed this from time to time as the more trouble they caused over there, the less trouble they caused in our realm. This went on for some time and even Aragon used the portal on occasion to work through some extra energy. However, our actions had not gone unnoticed in the human kingdom. As it happened, many of the cattle that the knights had killed belonged to the human king's prized herds and one of the humans frightened in the woods was the king's own daughter, traveling through the forest to visit a relative. The princess returned to her father, scared near to death.

"The human king decided enough was enough and assembled a force of his best men to hunt down the monsters that plagued their lands. How we laughed at their efforts, at first. Their swords and arrows passed through our knights like smoke and much of the time they could not even see us. It became the new sport of the kingdom; the knights would ride out to the human realm and play games with the hunters, returning at the end of the day to tell tales of their exploits over a feast. All of this was about to change, however…" Dora paused to clear her throat, suddenly becoming aware of her audience.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I've been a poor host. Do any of you require more refreshments?" She asked. The trio shook their heads, and Dora carried on with her tale.

"There came a day much like any of those prior. It was the day before the anniversary of my father's coronation and the whole kingdom was preparing for a celebration. Being the popular thing at the time, it was decided that the nobles of the court would travel to the human realm to watch the knights toy with the humans as a sort of pageant. I, my brother, and my father would be in attendance, so every preparation was being made with the utmost care. The knights and servants assured us that everything was in place for the next day's festivities, but it was my father's way to do things himself.

"He and my brother rode out with the knights to oversee what work was being done. I was rather upset at having not been invited to go with them - my father was a staunch traditionalist concerning women - so I snuck along behind in my dragon form. I was much smaller in those days, you see, and very swift; I was very proud of these traits. Some days I think one of the knights may have spotted me, but he never said a word, so I couldn't be sure. My pride at the time remained intact.

"Anyhow, I kept to the trees and bushes, invisible, behind the convoy. All seemed normal; the party met a few humans in the woods and they ran away screaming, as was the usual. But then, a cavalry of human knights met our group on the path. My father and the others laughed at the humans but the humans stood their ground, something that was highly unusual for humans meeting a group of ghosts of that size. They looked uneasy, but a strange light burned in their eyes. My father was the first to notice something wrong. He had started to look about when the first arrow struck his horse through the neck.

"It took a moment for the others, including my brother, to figure out what had just happened. Then, it was chaos. As my father's horse fell, he lept off its back and transformed into his dragon form, my brother doing the same. Arrows began to rain down from the trees striking down one knight after another. I watched, frozen with fear. How were the arrows killing my father's men? A stray arrow fell near me. The tip of the arrow was sticky with a red juice that hissed and smoked. The fumes stung at my eyes but I reached out to pick it up, curious as to what it could be. Before my hand came even within a few inches of the arrow, I could feel the scales on my fingers and the tips of my claws begin to dissolve. I snatched back my hand quickly, but the damage was done. The tips of my fingers still sting at the mere sight of-"

"Blood blossoms," Danny interrupted, his voice thick with disgust. "They poisoned their arrows with blood blossoms."

Dora looked surprised. "They're rather rare in this age. How do you know of them?" When Danny failed to answer, she shook her head. "That's a tale I'd like to hear later, but I can continue my own for the present time." Danny nodded, and Dora resumed her story.

"I found out later that the human king had sent messengers to distant lands to find those with any experience dealing with the supernatural. The messenger from a nation far to the east of the human kingdom returned with blood blossoms and the means by which they could be weaponized against our kind. They dipped their arrows in a concentrated liquid made from the flowers and these new weapons worked to terrifying effect. The remaining of our knights tried to close ranks around my father, but it is difficult to protect a dragon. My father had flown into a rage and, after ordering my brother to retreat, set the ranks of human knights aflame. The onslaught of arrows forced my father to the ground, however, where the humans could rush at him with their swords. My brother did not want to leave, but he was always very loyal to my father. He would obey him even if my father had told him to slit his own throat. He flew back to the portal, his personal knighted guards following after him.

"My father was surrounded by a scene of carnage. Just as the soldiers hacked and slashed at his scales, his claws pierced their armor. It appeared that they had dipped their swords in the blood blossom concoction as well; his scales smoked and steamed wherever the swords touched. The acid ate through his natural armor just as it had on my fingers, leaving bloody paths of flesh wherever it went. It was a horrible sight - I had never seen my father in such a state, so burned and bloody. He was not beaten, however. I somehow had faith that he would escape and return to the castle, planning his revenge. This was not the case.

"It so happened that the knights and my father had beaten each other nearly to a draw. The arrows had since stopped falling; the archers must have run out after killing my father's knights. After scorching the last knight to a crisp, my father collapsed to the ground, falling on top of several of the knights. I started to leave my bush and run to him, perhaps to try to get him to safety, but something moved in the pile of dead humans. One knight still lived. The human pulled himself out of the pile of gore, armorless and weaponless. He picked up a sword and shield from the hands of his dead brethren and advanced upon my father, the dragon.

"I am ashamed to say that I did not rush to my father's aid. It was one battered knight - not even a knight, I realized, a squire! - what could he do against my father? My father was weakened, sure, but surely he was more than a match for one shaking boy. The squire advanced on my father, sword raised. My father's head lifted, and within an instant he thrust his head forward and snapped his jaws around the squire. Finally, it was over. More over than I realized, at first. My father dropped the body of the squire - now barely recognizable as a human body, so mangled it was - with a screech. The squire had, in one last effort of bravery, angled his sword to pierce the roof of my father's mouth, killing my father as my father killed him. Two bodies fell, never to get back up.

"I couldn't believe what I had seen, but it was true. I heard a quiet rustle of the bushes behind me and turned to see my brother. He'd realized where I had gone and had come back to find me, arriving just in time to see my father's final moments. He took me home, then, and I saw no more of what happened," Dora said, raising a trembling hand to wipe a tear from her eye. She sniffed, straightening. "I apologize. It's been so long, yet I cannot tell that story without bringing back my feelings from that time."

Sam cleared her throat. "You have no need to apologize to us," she said quietly. "Bad memories have a way of doing this to all of us."

"My thanks," Dora replied.

"I'm sorry to interrupt all of this, but what does this have to do with my amulet? It's a really sad sob story, but I don't see what it has to do with my situation." Danny said irritably.

" _Danny,_ " Tucker hissed. "Not cool, dude."

"I will forgive your inconsideration due to the curse of the amulet you now bear," Dora said, steel entering into her voice. "But do not presume that you may speak to me in that manner at any point in the future."

Danny crossed his arms more tightly and slid down in his seat. "Just saying," he grumbled.

"If it will stop your whining, I do not have much to tell," Dora snapped. "After my brother brought me back to the castle, he returned to the human realm with a few of our remaining knights to retrieve my father's body as well as his dragon amulet. When they arrived, they found that the archers from the battle had gone back to the village and had returned with reinforcements. Once the humans realized what had occurred, the lauded the late squire as a hero for having slain the dragon. He was a baker's son, I believe, who had joined the ranks of noblemen in an attempt to raise his station; the noblemen hadn't thought much of him but in his final acts, he had proved himself more worthy than any of them in their eyes.

"It was that day that a ruthless brotherhood of dragon ghost hunters was born. The remaining knights and archers took my father's amulet as a trophy and the name of the baker's son as their own. Perhaps they thought that by taking his name, they could share his glory. I do not know. Passing their traditional use of blood blossoms down from father to son, they have plagued what remains of my family for the centuries since. It wasn't always my brother and I, you know. There were lesser royal lines, cousins. All hunted down and slain like animals. We managed to recover all of their amulets, but never my father's; I have searched for my father's amulet from time to time, but always they kept it hidden from me. I believe my father's amulet is the one you now wear. How did you come by it?"

"Leave it to the Box Ghost to find something that's been lost for centuries," Tucker said.

"The Box Ghost? So the amulet was in Amity Park? I should have known," Dora shook her head. "As I am now the ruler of this queendom, I have not have the time to search as I once did."

"Question is, can you get it off of me?" Danny asked.

"I am not so sure I can if you have not been able to. We may try," Dora said, standing and motioning to Danny. He stood and walked over anxiously. Dora bent and peered at the gemstone in the center of the pendant. "It has a curious aura," she said. "I do not remember this when my father used to wear it." She slid her hands under the heavy gold chain and made as if to lift it over Danny's head, but the chain slipped through her fingers as it had for Danny and his friends. Eyebrows lowering in puzzlement, she lifted the pendant and turned it over, fingers tracing a symbol carved into the gold of the back that the trio hadn't noticed before. The inscription glowed briefly as her fingers met the metal. Her lips tightened and she turned the pendant back over, letting it fall back onto Danny's chest.

"I am sorry. I will not be able to remove the amulet. That symbol is the symbol of the brotherhood I mentioned. It appears that they have tampered with its magic in some way that I am unable to discern," she said regretfully.

"You… you can't help? You can't fix me?" Danny's voice rose. The air in the room noticeably became several degrees colder.

"What did I tell you about taking a tone with me?" Dora's voice didn't raise a decibel but her voice had an aura of command to it nonetheless. Danny shrank away a little and the room's temperature returned to normal.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Danny said, anger fading out of his tone. "Do I have this rage because they messed with the amulet? I mean, when your necklace was loose in the human world, the people who had it didn't get nearly as… pissed as I do."

"I do not think that is the case," Dora said. "My father… was a very different man than I or even my brother. Our amulets were made for us, you see. They're a part of us. That is why my family buries the amulet along with the ghost instead of passing them down. To have another wear it, is… disturbing, to say the least. All of our amulets have a component of rage to them; the anger stokes our inner flame and enables us to accomplish great or terrible things as dragons. In my family, we all have tempers that are greater than those of the common human or ghost, but we are very practiced at holding them in check.

"My father's rage was one not to be trifled with; his temper dwarfed mine or even my brother's, but you never would ever have been able to tell he was angry until you were roasting in his flames. My anger is not so great as his so those with my amulet did not have so much of a reaction. My father's, however… He had centuries to get his temper under control. You are experiencing it with less than two decades of experience in life and not even one decade spent as a ghost. If you are not able to find another way to take off the necklace, I fear you will have much learning to do."

Danny sat down heavily on the couch, dropping his head into his hands. "Fuck," he said under his breath.

Sam looked over at Danny, worried. Tucker's smartphone beeped, making him jump. "Sorry! Forgot that tech worked here now," he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and tapping at the screen. "Shit, we actually kind of have to go."

"I do not mean to keep you if you have another engagement," Dora said, concerned. "I'm afraid I don't know what other help I can offer."

"It's Danny's parents. We've been gone a while and they've probably noticed that we disappeared," Tucker explained. "I'd really like to avoid any trouble with them. If they notice something's off with Danny…"

Danny paled. "We definitely need to leave," he said, standing. He paused and bowed awkwardly in Dora's direction. "I'm… I apologize for my rude behavior earlier," he said at the floor.

"You are forgiven," Dora said with a small smile. "You are learning to swallow my father's pride. Well done, Daniel. It is but the first step on the long journey you face."

"Thank you," Sam said. "For all of your help."

"You are always welcome in my queendom. Danny, if I may speak to you in private for a moment?"

Danny nodded, puzzled, but waved his friends on. "I'll be right out, guys."

Sam and Tucker made their way out of the castle. "I wonder what that's about?" Sam wondered.

"Dunno. Dragon secrets?" Tucker guessed.

"Dragon secrets," Sam repeated.

"Yeah! She said the amulets are really significant for her family, right? Maybe there are some things only for those who wear them," Tucker said. Sam opened her mouth to reply but the sound of a familiar set of boots jogging over the castle stones behind them caused her to turn.

"Ready to go?" Danny asked, starting to walk with them across the moat. Seeing his friends' questioning looks, he started to explain until he was also interrupted, this time by someone shouting from the gates of the castle.

"Excuse me, lords? My lady?" A young ghost - a page, maybe? - ran after them. They stopped to let him catch up. "My Queen has a message for you. Will you hear it?"

Danny nodded and the page straightened with self-importance. "My Queen wishes to tell you that there is another hope for you. The Brotherhood-" The page's voice cracked on the word. "- has long practiced dark blood rituals in their quest to destroy dragons. It is said that over the year their fanaticism became more and more pronounced, leading them to conduct experiments as they did on the Dragon King's amulet. They are not so active now, but it is possible that one of the Brotherhood's bloodline could remove the amulet, should you find one." The page finished his message and took a breath. "Would you like me to repeat the message, my lords and lady?"

"Umm, no need. Thank you, and give the queen our thanks," Sam said, waving the boy on.

"Of course, my lady!" The page brightened, turning and running back into the castle.

"Well, it's something," Tucker said, starting to walk with the other two. "I can start looking around the web for any mentions of a brotherhood like that."

"Yeah, can't be too hard to locate mention of a tiny ritualistic brotherhood of ghost dragon-hunting mad men formed over a thousand years ago," Sam replied sarcastically.

"I'd think that'd be right up your alley, Sam," Danny chuckled for the first time in days. "Sounds dark."

"I like _dark_ , not _crazy_ ," Sam replied, stepping into the Specter Speeder.

Danny coughed something that sounded suspiciously like " _Circus Gothica_."

"Excuse me?" Sam asked, eyes narrowing as she took her seat.

"Nothing!" Danny took the co-pilot's seat, just to be safe.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Exposition central, where we detail ghost history one realm at a time. There should be a Drunk History for ghosts...

Comments/critiques appreciated!

-attu


	4. Transmogrifier

Despite the ill news, Danny actually seemed a little more light-hearted on the journey home. Sam was surprised - she thought he'd be nearly impossible to keep human-shaped after hearing that he might be stuck with the amulet for a long while. Maybe, she considered, it was just that he now had some more knowledge on what was going on. When he'd opened up to them about feeling like this thoughts weren't his own, he'd been utterly in the dark about what was happening to him. Now, he knew what he had to do, he knew what he had to beat, and Danny had always been good at rising to the occasion. Even if his foe was the locked up rage of a one-thousand year old dragon king... Kings had never stopped him before, had they?

"What are we going to do when the next ghost attacks? Dude, you're doing better with the whole temper thing, but I don't think you'll be able to keep your cool around Skulker, much less someone like Spectra," Tucker said the next day after school. Danny's parents were conveniently out field-testing some of their new equipment and had dragged Jazz along, so the trio had the lab to themselves.

Danny shuddered at the mention of Spectra. "I think I'll be able to keep my head enough to attack them instead of anyone else or the town," he said. "Dora took me aside after you guys left and gave me a few tips on staying myself, at least on the inside. She also gave me a really thorough rundown on what I'd done wrong in our fight. Who knew she was such the tactician?"

"Told you!" Tucker said to Sam, punching the air. "Dragon secrets!"

Sam rolled her eyes. Danny looked from one to the other, raising an eyebrow. "Dragon secrets?" He asked.

"Never mind," Tucker said, suddenly focused on the task at hand. "What if you do lose it while you're out there, though? It's gonna be a lot harder to catch you when you're out flying the friendly skies of Amity Park."

"I'm pretty confident I can do it," Danny said. "The one thing I'm worried about is changing back. Dora just said I had to 'know myself' and 'find my center' or something like that. I have no idea what she could possibly mean."

"I might be able to help with that," Tucker said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, come look at this. I've been tinkering with a Specter Deflector-"

"Tucker, I am _not_ wearing one of those," Danny said, paling.

"Hear me out! I've been working on integrating the Specter Deflector and the Ecto-Stoppo-Power-Ifier. We can't carry a cannon around, right?" Tucker explained, showing Danny what looked like a mini Specter Deflector. "I've been working on a smaller version of the Deflector anyways. A belt that chunky isn't really wearable and one of the big things in tech right now is smartwatches, so why not combine the two? I took out most of the the smartwatch and Deflector functionality and replaced it with one of your parents' backup circuits for the cannon. It still has enough room inside to interface with my tablet or smartphone, so I can set it off remotely. Should give you a bit of a jolt then change you back to normal."

Sam and Danny stared at Tucker blankly. Tucker shifted in his seat nervously. "Guys? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Holy shit, Tucker, you're a genius," Sam said. "How did you even…?"

"I know, I know, it's about time I got some credit for my talents," Tucker said proudly. "It wasn't easy, you know! The two pieces of hardware have completely different voltage and current requirements and don't even get me started on making sure these things don't throw off too much heat and burn somebody's wrist-"

"Tucker. Thank you," Danny said.

"While I do appreciate the recognition, no need to thank me, bro. Just think of this as me making sure I don't have to chase your scaly ass all over town," Tucker said, grinning.

"Just don't show that to my parents. My dad might try to hire you," Danny joked.

Tucker looked contemplative, scratching his chin. "Ya know, I _have_ been looking for a part-time job. Keeping up with the newest hardware isn't cheap."

"You would not survive working under my dad, much less my mom. They're engineering tyrants! They already make me do so much work, and they don't even pay me for it!" Danny said, attempting to backpedal.

"No take-backs, dude. This might actually look better on a resume than that tech start-up downtown. Plus this is closer to my house."

"Look better on a resume? They're laughed at by half of the scientific community! You may as well put that you worked under astrologers…"

Sam hopped up onto one of the other lab tables and watched the exchange with a smile. It was good to see everyone getting back to their old selves again.

To Danny's misery, Spectra had managed to install herself in their school the next day. It took him a little while to notice this time, as he wasn't seeing the school's current psychologist. Instead, he was walking passed the psychologist's office with Sam and Tucker when his ghost sense went off and he froze. His friends made it another few feet down the hallway before they realized Danny was no longer walking with them. Danny was stone-still, staring at the door to the psychologist's office.

"Danny, what is it?" Sam asked.

Danny turned his head back her way slowly, eyes slitted and furious. " _She's back_ ," he hissed quietly, fingers toying with the new watch on his wrist.

"Fuck. Again?" Tucker said to no one in particular.

"I'm going to rip her throat out-" Danny started at the door, but Sam caught his wrist, fingers tightening around the cool metal of the Deflector watch (Tucker was still working on a Fenton-worthy name).

"Not here. Now now. You don't see anyone around here miserable yet, do you? She's just gotten here and she doesn't know that we know she's here. We'll sneak back in after school, okay?"

Danny looked unconvinced. "You know she can't help herself. She's going to get someone," he said.

"That someone will be fine after you beat her. They can handle it. What no one can handle is you losing it during a fight and going dragon in the middle of the school," Sam said. "Later. After school. Please."

Danny's jaw tightened, but his eyes didn't dim. "Fine."

They stuck to the plan and crept back into the school once most of the students and staff had left. Danny phased them all into the office, invisible. True to form, Spectra was still in the psychologist's office, gloating over the poor human psychologist, who was tied to the desk chair with shifting black bonds. "I can feel how miserable you are," Spectra purred, taking the terrified psychologist's chin in a shadowy thumb and forefinger. "Overshadowing you and using your body instead of mocking up one of my own was a splendid idea. Young Danny and his friends will never see me coming."

"You should really rethink the whole 'speaking your plans out loud for anyone to hear' thing. Vlad's got the same problem. What is it with you villain types?" Danny asked, fading into visibility. "The school psychologist thing, again? Really? And you thought I wouldn't notice."

Spectra snarled. "If I can't sap this school slowly like I did the last time, I'll settle for draining the three of you right here and now. Bertrand!" She called. A few seconds passed. "Bertrand?" Spectra tried again, confused.

"Calling for this guy?" Sam asked with a smile, rattling the Thermos. "Caught him on the way in. Was it just me, Tucker, or is he getting slower?"

"Oh, much slower. Much easier to catch him than last time," Tucker bragged, tapping on the side of the Thermos gleefully. Muffled cursing sounded from inside the container.

Spectra gasped. "You- How _dare_ you!" She screamed, gathering her shadowy power about her and launching herself at Sam and Tucker. Danny caught her mid-air, forcing her to the side. "Let's take this outside, eh?" Danny said, raising a hand and blasting her through the wall. Before he chased after her, however, he looked at his hand, puzzled. Instead of looking like it usually did, silver-gloved and human-shaped, his hand had transfigured into that of a dragon, black-scaled and clawed.

Tucker noticed this first. "Dude, are you about to…?"

"What? No, I don't think so. Dora mentioned I might have to figure out how to separate my normal power from the dragon power," Danny said. "Didn't think she meant it so literally!" He stared at his hand for moment more and shrugged, following Spectra through the wall. Sam and Tucker were stuck taking the human way out of the building.

"Every time," Tucker panted, jogging along after Sam. "He does this every time."

By the time they'd made it outside, Danny was sporting a tail and horns to match his clawed hand.

Spectra looked Danny over and an incredulous look came over her face. "And just when you couldn't get any stranger… You're even more of a freak now, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Spectra. That's not going to work on me again," Danny said, charging up another ectoblast.

"Won't it?" Spectra's eyes glittered, dodging the green ray. "From what I hear about dragon ghosts, they come with their fair share of rage. How much anger is pent up inside of you, dragon boy? Can you even control it? How much did you hurt your friends when you changed the first time? I bet they're scared of you. They probably don't want to be your friends anymore."

"I thought I told you to _shut up_." Danny's words were more of a growl now as he spoke through elongated teeth.

"They're scared of you right now! I can taste it. Scared that you're going to lose your temper and turn into a dragon and hurt them again. You're so far along already, so close to turning into a mindless beast. Go ahead, beast. Show your friends some fear again. Prove to them why they shouldn't be your friends."

Sam was done with Spectra's shit. "Danny, don't listen to her!" She shouted up at her floating friend. "Of course we're your friends, we've seen much worse and we're still here, aren't we? We can do this-"

" _SPECTRAAAA_!" Danny roared, wings ripping their way out of his back. He grew large and scaly, dwarfing the other ghost. He lunged, claws ripping through her shadowy form. Spectra cackled, reforming behind Danny. His tail swept through her again, forcing her to divide and reform again.

"This is even better than I could have dreamed!" Spectra cried. "So much rage! So much pain! It's almost too much!"

She was still laughing when Danny froze her solid. "Nice one, Danny," Tucker crowed. "Catch the bitch off guard!"

"Yeah, she's definitely easier to catch when she's stuck in one place like-" Danny smashed the frozen block of Spectra with a hand causing black shards of ice to rain to the ground. -"that," Sam finished. "Why the hell would you do that?" She asked, annoyed. "Now we have to suck up each piece individually…" She trailed off as the dragon set a pair of glowing green eyes on her, upper lip lifted in a snarl. "Shit. Tucker? How about that new tech?" She asked, slowly walking backwards to stand next to Tucker. The dragon landed and began to prowl towards them slowly.

"On it!" Tucker said, starting up the program to interface with the watch on his tablet. He swiped his fingers across the screen a few times before tapping one spot confidently. "There!"

The dragon remained a dragon. "Tucker, this really isn't the time for glitches. We're about to be eaten and we need to save room in the Thermos for Spectra, so…"

Tucker tapped at the screen frantically. "I know, I know! It's sending the signal, it's just not… Lemme check the console readout. Okay, all good there, how about the…"

"Tucker, did you turn off Bluetooth to save power again?" The dragon stopped several meters away, tail twitching.

Tucker stopped tapping, looking up at Sam. "Fuck." He quickly navigated to the settings menu and turned Bluetooth back on. Opening up the program's user interface, he initialized the signal and pushed 'Send' once again just as the dragon lunged. An electric shock, visible to Tucker and Sam's eyes, coursed through the dragon's body and the dragon started to shrink mid-air. They sidestepped and Danny hit the ground next to them, rolling horns over tail for a few feet. He came to a stop, human-shaped and spread-eagled on his back.

"Urghhh," he groaned. "That stung."

"Yeah, well better than the alternative, bro," Tucker said, offering a hand. Danny took it and Tucker hoisted the ghost boy to his feet.

Danny rubbed his temples with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, dude."

"Really, the praise is great but it was done purely out of self interest," Tucker began. Sam smacked him lightly upside the head, grinning. "Ow!"

"Feeling better?" Sam asked Danny. "Not gonna get scaly again?"

"Not at all," Danny groused. "I don't think I have enough energy to walk through a wall, much less grow wings and a tail. I think my bones are sore."

"Good. Let's get you home and get some rest then, 'kay?" Tucker said. "We know the watch works because, well, of course it does, I invented it, so I'll chalk this one up as a win all around!"

"All thanks to you, eh Tuck?" Danny grinned.

"You betcha," replied the geek, folding the cover back over the screen of his tablet with a snap. "Who's on Thermos duty? I vote Danny since he's the one who made the mess in the first place."

"Tuckerrrrrrr," Danny said, slumping over and letting his arms go slack and hang. "I'm tireddddd."

"Nose goes!" Sam cried, hand flying up to her nose.

"What? Shit," Danny said when Tucker beat him to it.

Sam tossed Danny the Thermos. "Gotta be faster next time, Inviso-Bill."

Danny's eyes went wide. "Oh, come on, Sam. Please don't add insult to injury here. No one's called me that in almost a _year_!"

"Maybe it's time to bring it back. Whaddya think, Tuck?" She turned, lips twisting into a mischievous smile.

Tucker's face mirrored her own. He scratched his chin. "Ya know, I sorta miss it. It had a nice ring to it."

"Guys. Please," Danny begged.

Sam could never resist those baby blues. "Fine," she conceded. "Sorry, Danny. I gotta get my teasing in when you're too tired to Hulk out." She knew she made a mistake when hurt flashed in his eyes. Dammit Spectra, she thought. "Kidding again. I'm sorry," she said gently.

Danny's eyes flickered and he smiled. "Forgiven," he said, holding her gaze.

Tucker coughed, causing the other two to start. He pried the Thermos out of Danny's hands. "You know what? I've changed my mind. Call me generous, I don't know. How about I get Spectra in this thing while you guys go inside and help out the psych. Poor lady's probably scared out of her mind by now. Okay? Okay. Autobots, roll out." Tucker caught Sam's eye as she and Danny started to walk away. He carefully set down the Thermos and his tablet and shot her a pair of finger guns, winking comically. Sam tripped over a tuft of grass, bumping into Danny. He steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Alright?" Danny asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"Fine!" Sam said, voice a little higher pitched than normal. "Totally fine. Didn't watch where I was going, that's all."

Danny looked at her for a second, then nodded, eyebrows lifting. "Let's go save the psych!" He announced dramatically, taking her hand and dragging her off after him.

Tucker watched them go, uncapping the Thermos. Smiling to himself, he shook his head. "The things I do," he said. He whistled and got to work.

Tucker checked over the watch later that evening and pronounced it undamaged by the day's events. "That is some good engineering," he complimented himself. Sam rolled her eyes. "I should check it after each, ehh, use just in case, though. Don't wanna risk it."

"Can't argue with ya there," Danny replied, clasping the watch back onto his wrist. "Got a name for this thing yet?"

"Hmmm," Tucker mused. "The Fenton… Transformer? The Fenton… De-Dragoner? I got nothin'."

"The Fenton De-Dragoner? Really?" Sam asked incredulously.

"I'd like to see you come up with a better idea!"

"How about… The Fenton… Transmogrifier?" Sam asked.

"Transmogrifier?" The boys asked in unison.

"You guys need to pay more attention in Lancer's class. It's on this week's vocab list," Sam answered. "It sounds neat."

"Kinda weighty," Danny said, peering at the device wrapped around his wrist.

"Kinda fancy! Sophisticated. Just like my design," Tucker preened. "The Fenton Transmogrifier it is!"

"I expect royalties when you file the patent for this thing," Sam joked.

"As much as I'd love to make some money off of this, I think it's a little specialized. Not precisely marketable," Tucker said sadly.

"Oh well, guess you'll just have to go back to your plan where you work for Danny's parents."

"Dammit, Sam! I was hoping he'd forgotten about that!"

Skulker attacked next week. In a stroke of luck, he came just as the trio's gym classes were going outside to run the obstacle course, making it easy for Danny to slip behind a bush and go ghost. When Phantom flew up towards Skulker a second later, he was surprised to find out that Skulker actually wasn't after him this time.

"Well if it isn't my favorite prey? I've heard there's new prey in this human town and I thought you might know where I can hunt it, ghost child," Skulker said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Robocop. Everything here is same ol', same ol'," Danny quipped, floating in front of the hunter warily.

"Surely you've heard of it. This is your haunt, after all. This prey's pelt may be a better fit for the foot of my bed than your own!"

"What new ghost is this?" Danny asked, a creeping suspicion beginning to gnaw at the back of his mind.

"It is a rare hunt, one not even I, Skulker, the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, has managed to complete. One of the dragon ghosts of old is said to roam this town!" Skulker proclaimed. "I mean, there are other dragon ghosts, but I owe Dora a few favors and I wouldn't even _presume-"_

"Hey, Iron Man," Danny said, grinning. "I may have seen this dragon, but I'm not sure whether I quite remember what it looks like…"

"Ghost child, I don't have all day. It's, you know, a dragon. Big, scaly, has wings," Skulker flapped his arms helpfully.

"Oh? So like this?" Danny said, becoming big, scaly, and growing wings.

"Exactly like that- Wait! You're the-urkkk," Skulker choked as Danny flew at him and smacked Skulker across the face with one giant scaly hand.

Sam found Tucker amidst the chaos on the ground. "How the hell did he figure out how to change on command like that? He's only had one other real ghost fight since Dora. More dragon secrets?"

"Guess so," Tucker said, shaking his head. "I feel like this is like that "I'm always angry" line from the _Avengers_ movie. Doesn't make any damn sense."

The two watched as the ghosts clashed above their heads. Danny clearly had the advantage, but his relative inexperience with his form was evident as it had been in his battle with Dora. Despite Skulker's many shortcomings, he _was_ a hunter and fights with beasts were his specialty. Danny took several hits to the chest and wings before Skulker hit him with a net. His arms and legs, however, were positioned in such a way that Danny was easily able to slice his way out of the hit with his formidable claws.

Danny managed to freeze Skulker's jetpack, causing the hunter to lose altitude for several seconds before Skulker pressed a button on one arm and ejected the wings from his back. Twin jets of flame burned out of the bottom of his boots, allowing him to fly back up to level with Danny. "You see? I finally watched the films concerning this "Iron Man" you keep calling me. He gave me some great ideas for the suit!" Skulker laughed.

"I'm not ssssure you really payed attention, Sssskulker," Danny replied, unused to speaking through such large teeth and tongue. "Iron Man had balance problemssss. He had to add jetssss on his handssss, too." Danny altered the angle of his wings slightly and flapped hard in Skulker's direction. The extra gusts of wind were more than Skulker was expecting and he suddenly spiraled out of control, trying to straighten his legs and point the jets in one direction. He succeeded, but his moment of triumph was cut short as he aimed both boots directly up at the sky and drive himself headfirst into the ground.

A hissing sound escaped Danny's jaws as he glided to the ground. Sam started to run over, thinking he was in pain. She stopped after realizing it was quite the opposite. Puffs of cold air clouded the air around Danny as he laughed. "That was really one for the comic bookssss, Sssskulker," Danny chortled.

" _Targeting system activated. Target acquired_ ," reported a quiet automated voice.

"Wait," Sam said. "Danny, what was-"

Danny was cut off mid-hiss as a net launched out of Skulker's raised gauntlet and hit him square in the face, pinning his body to the ground. Danny writhed but wasn't able to get his claws out from under him to cut his way out.

" _Guyssss!_ " Danny rasped, voice becoming more draconian in his stress.

"Shit. Sam, distract Skulker? I'll be right back," Tucker said.

"Wait, Tucker, what are you- fine!" Sam said. She watched as Skulker slowly pushed himself out of the ground, small jets of air pushing dirt out of the chinks in his armor suit. Skulker righted himself, brushing clods of earth off his chest.

"Now, ghost child, as usual I, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, have bested you and now I will take your pelt as a trophy. I knew that making special dragon-proof nets would come in handy." A wicked-looking green blade slid out of one of Skulker's arms. Danny gulped noticeably. "What a prize. A rare dragon and a rare halfa, wrapped up in one!"

Sam saw her opening. It was stupid, but someone like Skulker just might go for it. "Hey Skulker!" She shouted. "Ghost Zone's worst hunter!" That got his attention. His head rotated, swiveling on his robotic neck as his eyes narrowed. "I think you may be making a terrible mistake."

"Mistake? I don't make mistakes when it comes to hunting, human girl. I am the Ghost Zone's greatest-"

"Hunter, sure. But by taking Phantom's pelt right now, aren't you really robbing yourself of another pelt?"

Skulker looked confused. "Explain."

Tucker, please hurry up, Sam thought. "Well, if you take this dragon pelt, you're really not getting a halfa pelt. He's a dragon right now, not a halfa. Halfas are near as rare as dragons so you won't get a chance for one, umm, pelts again any time soon, either."

She could actually see gears turning in Skulker's head. "You make a good point, human girl. It is a pity that I will not get this one's halfa pelt." His eye lights brightened; he'd come to a conclusion too soon. Dammit, Sam thought. Tucker? Any time now?

Tucker came not a moment too soon, ectogun and tablet in hand. He tossed the gun over to Sam, who lifted it, aimed, and fired in one smooth movement, blasting Skulker away from Danny. Tucker tapped at his tablet for a few seconds and Danny let out a little yelp.

"Tucker, does it really need to hurt this much?" The dragon complained, claws, horns, and wings receding as he shrank.

"I can mess around with the parameters," Tucker replied, panting. "Just your luck this happened during gym class. All my stuff was back in my gym locker."

Once Danny was small enough and vaguely human-shaped, he squeezed himself through one of the gaps in the netting. "Large enough for a dragon, too big for a teenage superhero," Danny said to himself, pleased. As he landed back in front of Tucker and Sam, his tail zipped back up into his spine, causing Tucker to wince. "You keep an ectogun in your gym locker?" Danny asked. Tucker shrugged in response. "I don't suppose you had a spare Thermos in your locker, too?"

"Nope," Tucker said. "That gun was all I could fit without the teachers noticing. You're on your own for this one, dude."

Danny let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll be back in a few minutes, then. Cover for me?"

"Of course," they replied. Danny shouted a few insults at Skulker, who was lying in a crumpled, steaming heap under a tree. The hunter picked himself up and lunged at Danny, who laughed as he dodged the hunter with ease. Danny took off towards FentonWorks to get the Thermos, keeping just a bit below as fast as he could go to keep Skulker on the chase.

Tucker looked at Sam. "Any ideas for a cover story this time?"

Sam scratched her head "Think the 'Danny's terrified of ghosts and ran off' one will work again?"

"Probably. Lancer's not even listening to the excuses anymore, he just expects to hear one. Tetslaff and the others will just go along with whatever he says," Tucker said.

"You're right. Well, let's get to it," Sam said, slinging an arm over Tucker's sweaty, heaving shoulders. "That run take it all out of you again? I told you I'd help you get your cardio up," she teased.

"I can't run with you! You're like.. a Terminator or something. You never stop!" Tucker wailed.

"With all the running we do, it'd do you a hell of a lot of good!" Sam said.

"But… but… ugh. Maybe one day," Tucker said. They entered the school, excuses at the ready.

Life continued like this for some time. Ghosts came with greater frequency for a while; each of Danny's enemies wanted their shot at him with his new powers. After he defeated each one of them soundly, however, they resumed a more normal schedule of attacks. Dragon or not, they wouldn't be deterred. News of Phantom's new form hit the newspapers and the Fentons went into overdrive coming up with inventions and strategies to combat this new menace.

Vlad was uncharacteristically quiet. Danny finally got tired of waiting for a sneak attack he was sure was coming and broke into Vlad's house one night, asking for a fight. He returned not a half hour later, looking puzzled as Sam and Tucker had ever seen him.

"Something about it not being worth his time defeating an overgrown lizard," Danny grumbled. "Like he'd stand a chance against me. He barely stood a chance before I even had this thing!" He lifted the amulet off his chest, looking at it. "I may be getting a little to used to this, but I guess if there's nothing I can do about it, I may as well embrace it."

They fell into a rhythm from one week to the next. Ghost attacked, Danny turned into a dragon, defeated the ghost, sent the ghost back to the ghost zone, got zapped, turned back to normal.

The research into the brotherhood continued, though at a less and less frantic pace. He visited Dora every weekend to learn from her about all sorts of things from dragon combat to her family's history. Danny started to look forward to these visits; he came back each week full of stories to share with Tucker and Sam.

"Did you know that she has distant relatives who are longs - Chinese dragons? Pretty much every story humans have about dragons come from her family! Her family is one of the younger branches, actually. The European dragons haven't been around nearly as long as…"

Sam and Tucker always listened - the stories were history and mythology lessons wrapped up in one. They were actually starting to cover the Canterbury Tales in Lancer's English class and details from Dora's stories helped to reinforce their learning. If Lancer suspected anything when the three of them, particularly Danny, quietly started to receive the best essay grades, he didn't mention it.

One day, something Lancer said as a side note in class hit Sam's brain in a strange way. She made a note of it and resolved to tell her friends after school. Tucker's house was the designated base for the day; once a week they did their homework as fast as they could and began research on the ancient brotherhood.

"Something Lancer said gave me an idea today," Sam began. The boys looked up, curious. She continued. "You know how in the story there's a character called the Franklin? It used to mean "free man" but now it's just a name."

"Yeah, so?" Danny said.

Well, lots of names back then related to what job a person had or what their status was. So you have Tanners and Smiths and Carpenters and Fishers and Masons; today people just have those as their last names, but back in medieval times their ancestors actually did those things. Some of them are in other languages or mutated a little over time, but a lot of people still carry those names. Dora said the brotherhood took the name of the squire who defeated her father. The squire was a baker's son. We need to look for someone with the last name Baker, or something similar to that."

Danny's eyes lit up. "Sam, you're a genius!"

"You're welcome for paying attention in class. Again," she replied sarcastically, smiling. "Don't thank me until this pans out, if it pans out."

"Let me run a search on one of those genealogy sites and see if any settled around here. There's one I used for a school project a while back that goes way back," Tucker said, turning to his desktop PC.

"Don't those sites usually charge for anything beyond your great-grandparents?" Sam asked.

A sly grin tugged at Tucker's lips. "Usually." He tapped a few keys and sat back in his seat to watch lines of text scroll up the screen. "Give it a few seconds to look through the database. There's a lot of people out there."

"In the meantime, let's look up the name Baker to see if anything comes up," Danny said, leaning on the back of Tucker's chair.

Tucker pulled up a search engine on another monitor and typed 'Baker surname' into the search bar. Selecting the Wikipedia article near the top, they leaned into read before the genealogical search on the first monitor beeped and Tucker rolled his chair sideways to check the results. "Oh, looks like there's only one family that meets the parameters in the greater Amity Park area," he said, clicking on the results.

Sam read the Wikipedia article out loud as she skimmed. "Baker: occupational surname. Check. Region of origin: England. Check. Related names… Oh my god."

Danny's mouth dropped open as Sam finished the line. "Related names… _Baxter._ "

* * *

 **A/N:**

The plot thickens, right before the end! The fights in this chapter were pretty fun to write. Please let me know what you think, be it comment or criticism. One more chapter left to go to finish this thing - see ya next week.

-attu


	5. Decisions, Revelations, Conclusions

"I can't do it," Danny announced the next day on Casper High's front steps. "I won't!"

"Big distinction between can't and won't," Sam pointed out. "You're perfectly capable of it. You just don't want to."

"What am I even supposed to say to him? 'Hey, this might sound weird but I'm actually your idol and your family comes from an ancient line of crazy dragon hunters. Could you take off my girly necklace, please?'" Danny said in a nasally tone. If he was in dragon form, his tail would have been twitching back and forth in agitation. "On the list of people I've thought of revealing my secret to, Dash is near the- no, he's not even _on_ the list. He's not even going to believe me!"

"Luckily, your story is pretty easy to prove," Tucker said. Danny glared at him. "Just sayin'."

"I just… Argh. I don't know how to do this. He might not even be from that family," Danny said, running a hand through his hair.

Sam wasn't sure whether to say what she was about to say. She did it anyways. "Danny, are you sure you even want Dash to take the amulet off?"

Danny's head whipped around and he looked at her, eyes wide. "Sam, why would you even ask whether I-" He stopped suddenly and dropped his head to look at the concrete steps. Lifting a hand to his chest, his fingers started to move and Sam realized that he was toying with the invisible amulet. "I… I don't know," he admitted quietly. "I've gotten so used to it. I mean, it's not without its problems, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm not sure if I want to go back to who I was without it."

"You're no different than you were before," Sam said, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

Danny scoffed. "I mean, there are a few differences."

"You know what I mean. You are not your powers. Your powers are… sure, they're just a _part_ of you. This borrowed power… was it really ever here to stay?"

"What if I want it to?" Danny met her gaze, challenging.

"Then that's your choice. But maybe you should talk it over with Dora. Pay her a visit after school. See what she has to say."

"It _is_ her father's amulet," Tucker agreed.

Danny let out a breath and nodded. "You guys are right. I'll drop by her castle later."

"Good," Sam said.

Several hours later, Danny was nearing Dora's castle. His thoughts were in turmoil, distracting him in his flight. He'd almost run into several rocks and islands on his way to the medieval realm. He touched down in front of the moat and waved at the gatekeeper. The semi-transparent man smiled and waved back, releasing the mechanism to allow the drawbridge to fall and the portcullis to rise. Danny shouted his thanks and crossed into the castle.

Word of his arrival had already spread quickly. The small boy who'd delivered Dora's message the first time he'd visited was waiting in the grand hall. "Her Majesty begs you excuse her as she is unprepared for your visit. She will be available shortly if it would please you to wait in her study," the page announced in his high, reedy voice.

"Thank you for delivering her message. You must be the queen's most trusted messenger," Danny praised. Over the course of his weekly visits he'd learned that flattering the child was the best way to learn all of the castle gossip. True to form, the boy lifted his shoulders and stood at attention. He would have looked quite professional if not for the berry-stained teeth showing through his lips as he grinned.

"Has Cook been making pies, then?" Danny asked conspiratorially. "I thought she didn't let anyone at them until at least supper."

The page looked back and forth, checking the hall for listeners. He leaned forward conspiratorially, whispering. "I can bring a slice by Her Majesty's study, sir, if you'd like."

"If it's not too much trouble," Danny whispered back. The boy saluted and scampered off in the direction of the kitchens.

Danny made his way up to Dora's study to await his pie and the queen. He often met Dora in her study, so he knew the way well. He knocked twice at the heavy wooden door. No response. He turned the heavy iron doorknob and opened the door with a creak. As the page had said, Dora was absent. He settled in his usual overstuffed chair by the fireplace and settled in to wait.

A few minutes later he heard a quiet tap at the door. Suppressing a smile, he stood and crossed the room to open it. There stood the page holding a plate bearing a steaming slice of berry pie with the tips of his fingers. Looking up and down the hall to make sure no one saw him, the boy raised the plate for Danny to take. "Not a word to Cook, sir? She'll have my hide if she knows I've been nickin' pie," the boy said.

"Of course not. We can't have the castle's greatest page caught, can we? Thank you," Danny replied. The page saluted him again and ran off down the hall, skipping as he went.

Danny closed the door and sank back into his chair, pie in hand. Snagging a fork from the dinner service on Dora's desk, he dug into the pie with gusto. Sam was really missing out wit Undergrowth's gardeners; they sure knew how to grow blueberries, even if they were dark green instead of blue. The greenness of the berries had thrown him off the first time the page had stolen him pie, but he'd figured he should eat it if only to be polite. One bite and flavor had exploded into his mouth. They may have looked underripe, but they were the best blueberries he'd ever tasted.

He'd just finished the pie and had placed the plate and fork on a tray by the door for a servant to take when Dora entered from a side door. She looked from him to the empty plate with a knowing smile and took her own seat across from Danny's own. She regarded the boy who'd become her pupil and then friend for a few moments. "It is a pleasure as always to see you, Daniel. But pray tell, why the unexpected visit? Not that I don't enjoy your visits, but I can tell something bears heavily upon your mind," she said. Perhaps not friend, she thought. She had never had anyone to teach the ways of her family to before; the young half-ghost was like the little brother she'd never had.

"Something… we've found something. About the brotherhood," Danny began. At the mention of the ones who'd slaughtered her family, Dora's face grew harder. "We think we've found a descendant. He's a kid who goes to my school, actually.." He laughed nervously and fell silent.

Dora felt strange at Danny's revelation. She was somehow happy and sad at once. She tried her best to project happiness when she spoke. "That is excellent news! Perhaps he can finally rid you of my father's curse," she said. Danny failed to meet her eyes or return her smile, causing hers to falter. "Why are you so unhappy, Daniel? Is this not what you have wanted for these past months?"

"I thought so, too, but now I'm not so sure," Danny replied. "I thought I would be excited to finally be free of this amulet, but the longer I've had it on the more I've come to like it. It's like nothing else I've ever felt and I never thought I'd be able to say that after becoming half-ghost."

Dora sensed that Danny had more to say and kept quiet. Danny continued a few moments later. "Coming here, learning from you… I love it. I never thought I would, but… I don't know if I want to let it all go."

Dora tilted her head to the side slightly. "If you felt so conflicted, why come here and inform me of your discovery? You could have kept the amulet on and I never would have known otherwise. Things could have continued as they were."

"I understand now better than I did what this amulet means to you and your family. I feel terrible that my first instinct isn't to take it off and give it back to you so that you can lay your father to rest properly. If you want me to return it, say the word and I'll go to Dash now and get him to take the necklace off. You… you have my word." By the time he'd finished speaking, his head was down and he'd leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

Understanding filled Dora's chest and she almost wanted to hug the boy. "Chin up, Daniel. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear you speak those words, as much as it pains you to voice them." Danny looked up at her in surprise. "When you first came to me, I admit that my goals very much aligned with yours. I wanted my father's amulet back, and you wanted to be rid of it. I did not know you well, either; you had helped me to take back my kingdom so I knew you had a good heart, but we had spoken little so I did not know your mind. I was saddened for you for you were not born to this life of kingdoms and dragons.

"Since then, however, you have exceeded my wildest hopes for you. You have adapted to the way of the dragon almost as if you were born to it in truth. I have grown to look forward to our meetings so much that I dare say you are the first true friend I have had in a very long time. I still wish to lay my father's amulet to rest, but I do not wish to lose your friendship. I therefore leave this decision up to you. Should you decide to keep the amulet, I will respect your decision we may continue as we did before. Should you decide to remove and return it, you will always be welcome here, be it for training or for other teaching."

Dora had had an idea that she'd been been mulling over for some time and decided to put it into play. "Daniel, I would like to make you an offer. You can make your decision now or you may wait to answer me as long as you wish. I will leave the offer open. The people of my queendom love you and would be sad to see you gone forever, Daniel. I would be remiss if I did not say that I would miss you, as well. You still have much to learn, but I speak truly when I say that you have become my finest pupil and a dear friend. Being mortal as you are, you may consider this offer impolite. There is a good chance that you have not even thought this far ahead but as a ghost, it is impossible for me not to. Should you choose, I would like to take you on as my heir upon your death." She looked up at Danny, eager to see his reaction. She was not disappointed.

Danny was staring at her incredulously, his jaw working up and down as he tried to figure out what to say. Dora smiled a little nervously. "It's quite alright if you do not wish to; I will understand. Regardless of what you decide, I pledge to you that my opinion of you will not change."

"I- I- Dora, I can't believe you would- Me?" Danny finally choked out. "Why would you-"

"I think I've made my case quite well," Dora interrupted. "As I said, don't feel you have to answer me now. I felt the offer had to be made."

"I just- I don't think I know how to answer that. You're right, I haven't thought that far ahead. I don't even know what will happen when I die. Will I become a ghost? Will I go to heaven or something? I've tried not to think of it, to be honest." He scratched his head shakily. "I think of all the things I expected you to say when I came here, that wasn't even on my radar."

Dora smiled. "I'm glad I can still offer some surprises, after all I've taught you." Danny worried at his lip and Dora knew she wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon. "Do not let this decision weigh too heavily on your mind, Daniel. You have decades to think about it. Think more on the choices you must make in the immediate future. I am interested to see which path you choose," she said, standing and laying a hand on his shoulder. "Go back to your realm. I will see you at the end of this sevenday, correct?"

"Right," Danny said, standing shakily. He looked to be in a daze. "...Thank you, Dora," he finally added, opening the aged wooden door and leaving her study. Dora settled back into her chair and sipped at the tea a servant had brought as she and Danny had spoken. She added a small spoonful of sugar and stirred it in thoughtfully before sipping again. "What will you choose, Daniel?" She asked the crackling fire. "What will you choose…"

Sam wondered what had gotten into Danny when she saw him the next morning. He seemed distracted by something; the entire walk to school he didn't hear half of what she or Tucker said and he dropped his backpack twice when his shoulders went intangible without warning. He hadn't done anything like this since right after the accident. At least he's not sinking into the concrete, she thought. Or losing his pants. Upon entering the school, it took some careful maneuvering by Sam and Tucker to make sure Danny didn't run into anyone that might give them trouble for it.

"What's gotten into you, dude?" Tucker hissed, pulling books out of his locker. "Dora yell at you or something?" When Danny didn't answer, Tucker took Danny's wrist and used it to slap Danny in the face lightly with his own hand. "Earth to space cadet. Are you okay?"

Danny blinked and stared at where Tucker was holding his wrist, confused. "Sorry, what?" Danny asked. "Umm, no, she wasn't mad or anything. She was actually pretty chill about it all. She said it's my choice, with the amulet and all."

"Then what has you out orbiting with the ISS, Hubble?" Sam asked, attempting to continue the space jokes.

"The Hubble Space Telescope and the ISS aren't orbiting at even close to the same radius around the earth. _Gravity_ was a neat movie but it got that part way wrong," Danny started.

"We know. You've told us," Sam and Tucker said in unison.

Danny sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry. Something Dora said… I'll tell you guys another time. Right now… I'm still not sure whether I want to keep this thing and the fact that the only way to get it off is telling Dash my secret isn't helping."

"We could try to come up with another reason for him to take it off," Tucker said. "Continue the thing with the bet. Say we dared you to ask him to take it off."

"That's… humiliating," Danny said, dropping his hand back to his side.

"More humiliating than the time that he hung you on the top the flagpole by your underwear?" Tucker asked.

"Or the time he-" Sam started.

"Okay guys, one instance is more than enough. I don't need to relive that," Danny said, holding up a hand in surrender. "I can just hear it now… 'Still stuck with the girly necklace, Fentina? What do you want me to do, paint you like one of my French girls?'"

Sam sputtered. "I'm not sure he's seen _Titanic_ ," she said, laughing.

"Oh, you bet he has," Danny said, "whether he watched it on his own or Paulina made him watch it with her. Fifty/fifty, could be either one."

"Danny," Tucker said, chuckling a little at the notion of Dash watching romantic movies. "Back to the point. You should probably figure this out by the end of the week if you want to do this anytime soon."

"Wait, why?" Danny asked.

"You don't remember? Dash won some college camp thing. He gets to miss school and go spend the week at Notre Dame training with their football team. I mean, you could wait _another_ week…"

"Nah, I should figure it out now. I'm seeing Dora this weekend. I'd like to be able to tell her I've made my decision," Danny said.

"She'll be proud of you either way, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but I still feel like this is some sort of test," Danny said.

"Why would you think it's a test?" Tucker asked. Danny went tight-lipped and Tucker sighed. "I dunno what else she said, dude, but if you don't wanna tell us, that's fine. As curious as I am…"

"Thanks, Tuck. I just think I need to figure it out myself before I go talking to anyone about it."

The warning bell rang. They had two minutes to get to their first class. "Shit," Sam said. "Talk about this at lunch?"

"Definitely."

Tucker and Sam were near as distracted as Danny for the first few classes of the day. The art teacher scolded Sam twice for her sloppy use of color and Tucker almost deleted half of the school's student records during his computer science course (he may not have been doing the current assignment, but then again he never really did). By lunch, all three teenagers were more than ready to sit down and chat.

"So," Sam said, digging a fork into her salad. "Are you gonna do it or not?"

Danny choked on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Tucker smacked him hard on the back a few times and Danny managed to swallow, peanut butter seeming to stick more than usual on its way down his throat. "Do what? I can't make that kind of decision in a couple hours, it's _huge_ \- Oh, the amulet. Not sure," he said almost too nonchalantly after he recovered, taking a long swig out of his water bottle.

"What other decision would I be talking about?" Sam asked suspiciously. "I know Tucker said take your time, but you've been really weird about something and I'd like to know why."

"You guys deserve to know," Danny said after a long silence. "DoraofferedtotakemeonasherheirafterIdie," he said, dumping a pile of words in front of his friends without stopping to breathe.

Sam's mouth dropped open. "Did you just say-"

"Wait, what did you say?" Tucker asked at the same time.

"Dora asked you to be her heir?" Sam couldn't help her voice from rising and several heads turned their way briefly.

Danny looked over the schoolyard nervously and shook his head. "Keep it down, will you? Please?"

"That's not huge, that's- that's enormous! That's dragon-sized!" Tucker said. "Holy shit, bro. That's pretty awesome."

Sam nodded in agreement. "She must think really highly of you. I doubt she's ever made that offer."

"Of course she hasn't, she's only been queen a few months," Danny said. "Why are you guys so chill about this? This isn't like someone's offered me a job for when I graduate college. This is offering me a job after I _die_. I don't even know what's going to happen whenever I die!" This time, his voice rose and the heads dutifully turned again to see what was the matter. Danny stopped talking and the other students turned back around, disappointed at the lack of gossip.

"It's just…" Sam sighed. "Do you ever think about it? What will happen?"

"No. Yes. It's kind of a morbid train of thought," Danny said. "Do you guys think about that stuff?"

"A little. I mean, the Torah tells me a fair bit. But it's a little different here, isn't it? We fight what are essentially dead people all the time. I know you don't like to think about this, but you _are_ half dead. Who knows what'll-"

"Sam, please stop. I don't want to talk about this now, I don't want to talk about this ten years from now. I'll give it a thought when I'm ninety-five years old looking to pass away in my sleep, but until then, it's not a thing and I am not making it one. Dora said she'd give me decades to think about it and that's what I intend to do," Danny said irritably.

"Fine, fine. It's your life. Afterlife," she corrected herself. Danny shot her a look. She shot one right back. Tucker took a big bite of his meatloaf sandwich.

"A bit heavy for lunchtime, don't you guys think?" He asked, chewing noisily.

"Maybe," Sam said, picking through her salad to get one of each type of berry and leaf on her fork for a perfect bite. "Doesn't mean it's something we shouldn't talk about, though. It's interesting to speculate."

"This is what we get for being friends with a goth. Doom and gloom," Tucker said dramatically.

"I've got black nail polish in my locker if you want some, Tuck."

Danny walked home from school with Sam and Tucker as usual. He went straight up to his room once he'd gotten to FentonWorks and closed the door behind him. Letting his backpack fall off his shoulders to rest on the floor next to his bed, he flopped down on the bed with a huff.

He let his mind relax and let the amulet fade into visibility. The gold glinted dully in the sunlight streaming in through his window and the emerald reflected spots of green onto the ceiling above him. He tilted the pendant this way and that absentmindedly, watching the verdant flecks travel back and forth.

As powerful as it made him, he knew he had to give it back to Dora. As powerful as it made him? That struck him as a particularly Vladdish thing to think. Maybe more of the Dragon King was rubbing off on him than he'd thought. No, he thought. He wasn't hesitant to give up the amulet because of the power. Was it the freedom? Being half-ghost allowed a certain freedom already. There was something about being a dragon that struck him the right way but he was unable to really put his finger on it.

All the positives he could come up with didn't overlook the fact that he was essentially carrying the shade of Dora's dead father around his neck. He'd learned a lot more about the spirituality of the amulets and the meaning they held for Dora's family. The amulets held something not unlike the soul of a dragon ghost; it was their emotional core, their instincts. Danny hadn't really considered souls and ghosts as being separate before, but perhaps a soul was a little more spiritual and a ghost was a little more worldly. Strange that ghosts could come to be so much more than his parents believed.

Dora may have given her blessing, but that didn't excuse that he may as well have been wearing a necklace made out of her father's bones.

I need to stop thinking of you as mine, he thought at the amulet. As good as I am at this, you aren't my power. The emerald flickered and he could swear the flash of annoyance that swept through him wasn't his. Curious, he lifted the amulet and held it over his face, peering into the gem. I'm sorry, he thought. You deserve better than being stuck with me. You deserve to be put to rest.

"Excuse me, umm, citizen! I have a favor to ask," Danny Phantom announced, landing in front of Dash and his posse after school.

"Danny Phantom!" Dash went from high and mighty football jock to blubbering fanboy in about two seconds. "What- What could- I- I-"

"Oh, my love! You've finally come to ask me to be your girlfriend! Yes, the answer is yes!" Paulina cried, throwing herself at the ghost boy.

"My fourteen year old self would kill me for this," Danny mumbled to himself, trying to find a way to politely untangle himself from her arms.

"What was that, my darling?" Paulina asked, wrapping her arms more tightly around him.

"Nothing!" Danny yelped as one of her hands found his butt and squeezed. He went intangible reflexively and Paulina fell through him, landing hard in the dirt with a little scream.

Danny stepped to the side so he wouldn't be on top of Paulina once he became tangible again. He looked at Dash again."Mr. Baxter, was it?" He asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know my name? Guys, Danny Phantom knows my name!" Dash exclaimed, eyes shining. "Please, call me Dash!"

"Dash? Okay. Yeah, well…" Danny was unable to come up with a suitable response. "I could use your help, Dash. Would you mind coming with me?"

"Of course, anything!"

"Alright, then. Try not to move too much, okay? I'd hate to drop you," Danny said, drifting a foot or so off of the ground. He floated behind Dash and grabbed him under the shoulders. Turning them both invisible and intangible, he flew towards the park nearby where Sam and Tucker were waiting.

Dash surprisingly kept very still the entire way, though whether out of fear or excitement Danny didn't know. Danny slowed down as he reached the tops of the trees. Dash stumbled a bit when Danny let go of his shoulders a few inches above the leaves and dropped to the ground beside him. Dash looked around the small clearing, becoming noticeably confused when he spotted Tucker and Sam.

"Mr. Phantom, what are these two… people doing here?" Dash asked, squinting at the other teens.

"Surely you've seen them out fighting ghosts with me. They're my friends," Danny said flatly.

"Oh, right, if course!" Dash recovered admirably. "So… what did you need my help with if you already have sidekicks?"

"Not sidekicks," Sam said, bristling.

" _Friends_ ," Danny repeated. "My best friends, actually."

"Danny," Tucker said in a warning tone.

"It's alright, Tucker. I've thought a lot about this," Danny replied.

"What about Fenton? I don't usually see these two without him," Dash said.

Danny sighed. "Dash, I asked you here because of this," he said, allowing the amulet on his chest to become visible.

Dash stared at it blankly. "A necklace? Why would you need my help with a necklace?"

"It's sorta complicated," Danny began. "You know how I've been, umm, different lately?"

Realization dawned on Dash's face. "Is this what lets you turn into a dragon? That's so cool!"

"Yeah, that's what it is. Problem is, I can't get it off," Danny said.

"Why'd you want to take it off?" Dash was confused.

"Even more complicated," Danny said. "It'd take too long to explain, but to make a long story short-"

"You come from a long line of dragon-hunting psychos and you're the only one who can take it off," Sam interrupted. "Sorry, Danny. I can only stand being around this testosterone-addled idiot for so long."

"You hang out with two dudes," Tucker pointed out.

"That's different."

"I'm not sure whether I should be offended by that," Tucker said with a frown.

"Wait a second…" The trio turned back to Dash. "That necklace.. That's the same girly necklace Fenton was wearing! The one that's goth girl's grandmother's. What are you doing with…"

"Let's get this over with," Danny muttered, mentally reaching into his core and tugging at the warm thread within. He closed his eyes, letting the bright rings wash over him. He gasped a little as he always did when his heart, quiet and sluggish in his ghost form, suddenly pulsed to new life, thudding loudly in his chest.

This gasp was echoed in the football star in front of him. "F-f- _Fenturd_?" Dash sputtered. "You're _Danny Phantom?_!"

"This is going swimmingly," Sam commented sarcastically. "This all could have been avoided if we'd just-"

"Lied to him? He'd probably have figured it out eventually with the amulet and all," Tucker said.

"This is Dash Baxter we're talking about. I highly doubt it," Sam replied.

"FENTON IS DANNY PHANTOM?" Dash shouted out incredulously. "What- What the… Holy shiiiiit."

"Yep," Danny replied, rubbing his face with one hand.

"How the fuck are _you_ Danny Phantom?"

"Accident with my parents' equipment when I was 14, badda bing, badda boom, ghost powers."

Dash blubbered for several more minutes, requiring Danny to provide several demonstrations of his abilities to make the realization stick. Finally, Dash ran out of steam and quieted, holding his face in his hands. "All this time, you've been a hero… and I've been beating you up every day after school," he whispered. "Why haven't you kicked my ass already?"

Danny was taken aback. Was Dash actually sorry? "Believe me, it was tempting. But after a while, my friends helped me to realize that it wasn't the right thing to do."

"You can do so much crazy shit.. And you let me shove you in lockers? Hang you from the flagpole?"

"No need to remind me." Danny could swear he heard sniggers from his friends behind him. He flipped them off behind his back.

"I'm sorry!" Dash blurted out. "I'm so, so, so sorry!"

Danny wasn't sure what he had expected, but this just made him uncomfortable. "You don't… I don't know if I forgive you, not yet. But maybe we can talk about it sometime. Right now, I'm still asking for your help."

Dash blinked a few times. "Oh. The necklace, right? Why do you think I can take it off, again?"

"You.. This necklace was tampered with by an ancient brotherhood of dragon hunters. A brotherhood with the name 'Baxter'. We think one of their descendants can take it off," Danny explained.

"...Dragon hunters? Actually... My granddaddy used to tell me stories about knights and dragons when I was a kid. Didn't think they were true, though," Dash said slowly.

"Interesting," Sam mused. "Guess your grandfather still remembers some of your heritage."

"So, do I need to do anything special?" Dash asked, taking a hesitant step towards Danny.

"Not that we know of. Just try to lift it over my head," Danny said.

"Alright. Here goes," Dash said, fingers curling around the golden chain. He closed his eyes and jerked the chain upwards, catching the amulet on Danny's nose and ears.

"Ow! Why did you close your eyes?" Danny yelped.

"I thought something, I dunno, ghostly might happen!"

"Just watch where you're yanking that thing, okay?"

"Sorry, sorry," Dash said, carefully maneuvering the amulet around Danny's face and over his head. He withdrew his arms and looked down at the amulet in his hands curiously.

Danny thought he'd feel something when the amulet came off. Some sort of loss or withdrawal. Some sort of energy leaving him. But instead all he felt was the heavy weight of the gold coming off of his neck and shoulders.

"I guess this.. belongs to you?" Dash gently placed the amulet into Danny's hands, the gold chain settling into serpentine spirals until the emerald pendant rested on top.

"No, it doesn't," Danny said quietly. "But I know where it does belong."

Danny touched down in front of the castle moat just as he had a few days ago. A nod to the guardsman and the drawbridge was lowered. Danny walked across the drawbridge as the portcullis began to rise with a series of creaks and groans. Despite the fact that he'd gone through the Ghost Portal mid-morning, a huge green moon shone brightly overhead, casting Danny's shadow over the side of the bridge and onto the water below.

The page met him in the main hall and informed him that the queen awaited Danny in her study. Danny thanked the boy and passed him a snack-sized pack of Oreos he'd grabbed from the pantry at home. The boy looked at it in confusion, the foil package crackling in his hands. Danny held out his hand for the boy to pass it back and he cracked the package open at a corner. He gave it back to the page, who quickly figured out how to open the foil the rest of the way. He gasped in delight at the smell of the cookies within and stuffed one into his mouth, crunching happily. Danny ruffled the boy's hair and the boy ran off to enjoy his treat away from prying eyes.

Danny climbed the well-worn steps to Dora's study. Once he reached the heavy wooden door, he knocked twice. " _Come in_ ," came the voice on the other side of the door, muffled by the aged timber. Danny turned the door handle and entered the room. Dora sat in her usual chair, sipping the tea she was so fond of. She smiled and rose to greet him, placing the teacup and saucer on a side table.

Danny reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out her father's amulet, offering it to her. Dora stopped and her eyes danced from Danny's face to his hands, her mouth falling open slightly. Tears glistened in her eyes as she ran forward and her arms encircled Danny in a tight embrace, trapping Danny's hands and the amulet between them. Danny managed to pull his arms out to return the hug. Her shoulders shook slightly and Danny realized she was speaking something.

" _Thank you_ ," Dora whispered. " _Thank you, thank you, thank you_."

* * *

 **A/N:**

Thank you everyone who's followed Danny and the crew on his dragon adventures - I had a lot of fun writing them! Special thanks goes to **LunaGaleMaster** for suggesting this AU and the DP Slack fam for encouragement and camaraderie during this summer's Camp Nano. While this story made up only half of my Camp writings, one does not write 50k in a bubble.

As always, please let me know what you think! I'm always open to opinions on what I did right, what I could have done better, and what I did completely wrong. See you guys in the next tale!

-attu


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